ALS - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

I read an article about ALS on UpToDate website. I was curious about it because I wanted to know if there is any disease beside cancer that we still can not cure by today’s medicial technology. Suprisingly, I found most immune disease, congenital or required, is poorly curable. Another incurable disease is genetic disease, including ALS, Down syndome, etc. ALS is quite rare that few researches and trails are ongoing today. The prognosis of the ptient is so poor that once aquired ALS is no less then sentenced to death.
The incidence of ALS is about 3~7 per 100000. The clinical apparence of ALS is starting fromweakness of one leg and contralateral hand. Symptoms will then spread to the spare limbs. Patients would feel numb and senseless of the affacted skin areas, along with muscle power decrease and overactive tendon reflex. With the disease processing, patients’ life quality goes down quickly. Within three years, ALS patients would suffer from respiratory muscle weakening and die of repiratory failure.
Doctors often do not tell these patients the diagnosis right away, because it is hard to accept the results of acquiring this uncurable disease. With their condition worsening, the patient would suddenly realize that they could not go back to their original lives. By the time of knowing the cruel fact, patients is often bed-ridden for a long tme. The only thing they can do is watching the disease slowly took away everything from them.
There is few active medication use in ALS. The only effective medicine is Riluzol, an atagonist for glutamate, where central neurons are poisoned by glutamate in ALS. But with the blood-brain-bairrer, Riluzol is dose-limited effecting brain neurons. Nevertheless, Riluzol is the only drug that proved life-gaining in trails and approved by FDA. Being a student in biology field, I think it is my responsibility to study hard so that I could offer my effort in pharmaceutical industry to save people from evil diseases.