Mental Health Disorders (Credit: Canva)
How often do you hear people calling each other "psychopath"? Or how often do you witness people labelling themselves as "bipolar" or "depressed"? Quite frequently. Right? These are names of some serious, often life-threatening mental disorders which have been included in common vocabulary. Ayushi Jolly, a PhD scholar opined that "mental health disorders are not adjective to be thrown around."
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Today, many people who are organized and prioritize santitation and hygeine, label themselves as suffering from OCD. However, in psychology, OCD is a long-lasting disorder in which a person experiences uncontrollable and recurring thoughts (obsessions), engages in repetitive behaviours (compulsions), or both. This condition can significantly impair daily functioning, leading to severe anxiety and distress. Without proper treatment, it can escalate, affecting relationships, work, and overall quality of life.
Depression
"I am so depressed, I act like it's my birthday everyday," these are lyrics from a chart-topping Taylor Swift song. However, the singer-songwriter has never been diagnosed for the same. Similarly, people throw away the term even at the slightest discomfort. But, this mental health disorder is life-thretening, serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect how a person feels, thinks, and handles daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. Note, to be diagnosed with depression, the symptoms must be present for at least 2 weeks.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Any person who is high on energy and gets distracted easily could be heard saying "I'm suffering from ADD." In reality, ADD is a type of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that's characterized by problems with concentration and focus. ADHD is a developmental disorder that can affect a person's daily life, including their ability to perform at school or work and their social relationships.
Bipolar Personality Disorder
Broke up with your partner? Chances are you'll end up calling them bipolar. The terms has also been used in various films and songs, sans the knowledge of it's seriousness. Formerly known as manic-depressive illness or manic depression, this condition is a lifelong mood disorder that causes intense shifts in mood, energy levels, thinking patterns and behavior. A person suffering from this disorder witnesses intense shifts in mood, energy levels, thinking patterns and behavior, for long periods of time.
Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD)
Being "paranoid" has become more like a negative adjective among teens and young adults. However, a person who suffers from this condition is incapable of maintaining succesful relationahips. Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD) is a group of personality disorders categorised under "Cluster A". A person with PPD thinks in odd or eccentric ways, and suffers from unrelenting mistrust or suspicion of others, even when there is no reason to be suspicious. This disorder usually begins in early adulthood and appears more common in men than women. People with PPD are always on guard, believing that others are constantly trying to demean, harm, or threaten them. People with this disorder also doubt the commitment, loyalty, or trustworthiness of others. PPD patients also might have difficulty relaxing.
Credit: AI generated image/HealthandMe
India is better prepared to deal with potential Hantavirus outbreaks due to the healthcare infrastructure and quarantine systems established during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Dr NK Ganguly, former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
In an exclusive interview with HealthandMe, Dr Ganguly said that while isolated cases of Hantavirus have appeared in India in the past, especially in crowded peri-urban and urban settings in Kerala, large-scale outbreaks have largely been reported in countries such as China, Argentina, the UK, and the US.
Dr Ganguly said that India's healthcare system significantly improved after the deadly COVID pandemic.
“India is overprepared in a way that during the COVID-19, our system, even at the district level or in much more rural settings, got established,” he said.
He pointed out that hospitals now have access to ECMO, BPAP systems, ventilators, and oxygen management facilities to curb the spread in case of an outbreak.
Dr Ganguly also mentioned the availability of antiviral drugs and experimental vaccine efforts that could potentially be explored for hantavirus treatment. “There are some crude vaccines which are made here also,” he said.
He added that India’s quarantine systems and public health drills developed during COVID-19 would also help contain future outbreaks.
“I think India will be okay because of the sheer transmission dynamics of this virus,” he said.
Hantavirus is a zoonotic disease that primarily gets transmitted through contact with infected rodents or exposure to their urine, droppings, and saliva, though rare cases of person-to-person transmission have also been reported.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 11 cases — including three deaths — have been confirmed so far. However, additional suspected and confirmed cases are likely to emerge across countries.
Also read: Hantavirus Can Linger Indoors, Spread Through Contaminated Dust, Says Infectious Disease Expert
The One Health approach is critical in understanding and containing outbreaks like hantavirus, Dr Ganguly said.
The One Health approach, which integrates human health, animal health, and environmental monitoring, is also crucial to target the emerging infectious diseases, he noted.
Further, the noted microbiologist stressed the importance of strengthening surveillance across humans, animals, and the environment.
He explained that disease surveillance requires collaboration between bird specialists, forest experts, environmental scientists, and mammologists, especially for tracking zoonotic infections such as avian flu and hantavirus.
“In avian flu, birds follow special migration routes, so we needed bird specialists, forest experts, environmental experts, and mammologists,” Dr Ganguly said.
The expert also highlighted the growing challenge posed by shrinking spaces between humans and animals and the role of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in emerging disease threats.
“Animal health is equally important. We need to maintain them, track their movements, and do surveillance,” he said.
Dr Ganguly also warned that rising temperatures and shrinking boundaries between humans and animals could increase the risk of future infections.
“It is an environmental infection. With the rise of temperature, more hantavirus infections occur,” he told HealthandMe.
Calling surveillance one of the most critical tools in outbreak prevention, he urged India to strengthen monitoring systems for animals, vectors, and humans alike.
“We need to set up a dedicated surveillance for hantavirus in India, and we need to track hantavirus,” he said.
Dr Ganguly explained that to date, hantavirus cases in India have been detected accidentally during testing for respiratory infections or flu-like illnesses using advanced panel-based diagnostic systems.
“Like now these days, what happens is that when you are getting respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms, they put up a test system which is known as bio-fire or a thing like that which identifies 26 panels and gives the CT scoring of that, so from there, hantavirus emerged,” he said.
He added that India should strengthen surveillance tools and continue monitoring infections in animals, vectors, and humans alike.
Credit: Canva
Prateek Yadav (38), the son of late Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, died due to a massive blockage in the blood vessels of the lungs, leading to a collapse of the heart and respiratory system, as revealed in the postmortem examination report.
According to the autopsy findings, the provisional cause of death was recorded as “cardiorespiratory collapse due to massive pulmonary thromboembolism.” In simple terms, doctors said a large blood clot had blocked blood flow to the lungs, causing his heart and breathing to fail.
An embolism is any object (clot, fat, air, tissue) traveling through the bloodstream that becomes stuck, blocking blood flow. A thromboembolism is a specific type of embolism where that travelling object is a piece of a blood clot (thrombus) that has broken off from its original site.
It is a life-threatening condition that happens when a blood vessel in the lungs is blocked by a blood clot.
The common symptoms may include:
The blood clot starts in a deep vein in the leg and travels to the lung in most cases. Rarely, the clot forms in a vein in another part of the body, noted Mayo Clinic. When a blood clot forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, it is called a deep vein thrombosis or DVT.
Other symptoms of pulmonary embolism include:
Also read: Your Desk Jobs May Impact Fertility, Not Just Waistlines, Say Experts
Meanwhile, Karnataka's Planning and Statistics Minister, D. Sudhakar (66), passed away after a prolonged battle with a lung infection.
The most common lung infections that people experience are pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, influenza-related infections, and severe viral illnesses.
Experts noted that these lung infections cause fluid or pus to fill the air sacs, which prevents oxygen from entering the bloodstream.
"What may initially appear as a routine cough, fever, or chest infection can progress to severe pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis, or permanent lung damage,” Dr. Vikas Mittal, Director - Pulmonologist, CK Birla Hospital, Delhi, told HealthandMe.
Warning signs include
Dr. Nikhil Rajvanshi, Consultant - Paediatric Pulmonology, Rainbow Hospital, Delhi, told HealthandMe that children may be more at risk of pulmonary infections as they can become dangerous quickly because their lungs and immune systems are still developing.
Common illnesses such as bronchiolitis, pneumonia, influenza, and other viral infections may rapidly lead to breathing difficulty, low oxygen levels, dehydration, and respiratory distress. Infants, premature babies, malnourished children, and those with asthma or congenital disorders are at higher risk of complications.
The experts called for
Credit: AP
US President Donald Trump's attempt to clarify the meaning of "sea" while discussing drug smuggling has again raised concerns of dementia.
While the 79-year-old President rambled between “sea and see” in the middle of discussing drug problems in the US, social media went rife with the rumor of his cognitive decline.
"Drugs coming by sea meaning coming by water. A lot of people don’t know what I mean by sea. They think I mean vision. I’m talking about sea like the sea," he said. He was speaking at the White House, while hosting law enforcement officials for a dinner in the Rose Garden in celebration of National Police Week.
His comments were called out by social media as his apparently worsening cognitive capabilities.
"When he says 'a lot of people' he means 'me.' His cognitive issues are a crisis," one social media user declared, while another admitted, "He’s getting worse."
Trump has spoken on sea and see, during a maternal healthcare event last week, where he also referred to himself as the “father of fertility.”
Earlier, speaking at the White House Small Business Summit, Trump said he has taken the Montreal Cognitive Assessment three times and “aced each one,” claiming a doctor told him it was the first time they had seen a perfect score, The Daily Beast reported.
The US President said he answered the test questions easily, suggesting he is cognitively in good condition—a claim that critics have repeatedly questioned.
“The first question is very easy,” he said. “You have a lion, a bear, an alligator, and a—what’s another good…? A squirrel. Which is the squirrel?” He added that the difficulty increases as the test progresses. “By the time you get to the middle, they’re very tough.”
However, the test’s creator, Canadian neurologist Ziad Nasreddine, has challenged Trump’s claims. “It wasn’t designed to be a test of IQ,” he told nine.com.au. “It was designed to assess normal cognitive performance.”
Read More: Fact Check: Can Ivermectin Help Treat Hantavirus?
A group of medical experts, including neurologists, psychiatrists, and other physicians, has sounded the alarm over what they’ve described as Trump’s deteriorating mental health.
The experts have not specifically examined Trump face-to-face. But, they analyzed Trump's statements and behaviors over the past year, and stated that he’s “mentally unfit” and must be removed from office “with the greatest urgency” amid the escalating tension around the world, according to their statement published in The BMJ.
“It is our professional opinion that they (Trump's statements) reflect a rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous decline,” the experts said.
They also listed some of Trump’s observable serious medical issues, such as “Marked deterioration in cognitive functioning, evidenced by disorganized and tangential speech, rambling digressions, factual confusions, unexplained sudden changes of course in strategic matters, both national and international, episodes of apparent somnolence during critical public proceedings.”
Read More:PCOD vs PCOS vs PMOS: Why The Condition’s Name Has Changed Over Time
What The White House Says
The White House has continued to say that Trump remains in strong health.
In October 2025, White House physician Captain Sean Barbabella said the president “continues to demonstrate excellent overall health,” AOl.com reported.
"President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats and other lunatics intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle was quoted as saying to The Daily Beast.
© 2024 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited