Alcoholism as a factor of development and spread of diseases (analytical review)

This review presents the modern medical views on the nature of alcoholism and its effect on the development and spread of various diseases. The article characterizes alcoholism pathogenesis on the molecular level, presents the evidence on the disorders of carbohydrate metabolism, immune system, cell death, modulation of mitochondrial permeability and modulation of gene expression due to the alcoholic effect. Alcohol is caracte-rized as a root cause of development and progression of infectious diseases (tuberculosis, pneumonia), cancer, diabetes, nervous system diseases (alcoholic polyneuropathy, Wernicke´s encephalopathy), cardiovascular dis-eases (essential hypertension, ischemic heart disease), hepatic and pancreatic diseases. The review also focuses on the role of the alcohol in the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, chlamydial infection, ureaplasma infection, gonorrhea, HIV, herpes simplex, trichomoniasis. The influence of several factors was detected. The first factor relates to the changes occurring in organism as a result of excessive alcohol con-sumption - in particular, to the weakening of the immune system and / or a decrease in the effectiveness of treatment. Another factor dismissed due to antisocial behaviour, often associated with individuals suffering from alcohol dependence