Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Essay Example

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease after the New York Yankees first baseman, is a disease that affects the neuromuscular system of the body. In essence, ALS attacks nerve cells throughout the body; which leads to the eventual death of the brain and an inability to then control muscles, since the nerve cells control these processes. This means that towards the end of the disease, patients become paralyzed. Although the disease it rare, its effects are extremely detrimental, and philanthropists have recently called for the need to fundraise and conduct research in order to better understand the illness.

As mentioned previously, people with ALS should have hope, as researchers in the field are in the early stages of developing beneficial treatments or therapies that may prove worthwhile in helping to treat ALS symptoms and prevent disease onset. This paper will summarize how the disease is caused, how it progresses, and what treatments are currently being researched and used by physicians. This paper will be broken down into the following categories: how ALS functions as a disease, the differentiation between the different forms of ALS, the specific parts of the body that are targeted and how researchers are attempting to utilize this information, and countries are treating ALS differently based on cultural normalities and medical accessibility.

This paper aims to demonstrate that ALS researchers are on the cusp of discovering an effective treatment that will allow the life expectancy for those affected to improve from 3-5 years to several decades.

Works Cited

Aebischer, P. & Kato, A. “Playing Defense Against Lou Gehrig’s Diseas.” Scientific American 297(5), pp. 86-93. 2007. Print.

McCain, E. “The Case of Eric, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and Stem Cell Research.” Science Cases. Online.

Soumya, R. S. & Lansbury, P. T. “A Possible Therapeutic Target for Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” PNAS 101(16), pp. 5701-5702. 2004. Print.

Wang, S. “Deciphering Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” Wall Street Journal. 13 September 2011. Online.