(Image source from: What is the rage about ALS Ice bucket Challenge?})

The Facebook newsfeed is deluged with videos of people — techies, celebs, corporates, sportsmen, ordinary people — dousing themselves with buckets of ice cold water and challenging others to do the same.

Now unless you have been living under the cave, you possibly know what's the hullabaloo all about. The Ice Bucket Challenge, as the campaign is called, has gone viral, weeks after it was launched to raise awareness and funds for the ALS.

These videos aren't just amusing, but have also managed to amass an unprecedented amount of money for research on ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's Disease affects 5,600 people in the U.S. each year. This neurodegenerative disease mainly affects affecting the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. As these motor neurons degenerate, the brain loses control over muscle movements, resulting in paralysis and eventually death.

According to an ALS association, the disease can strike anywhere, anytime. Also, the disease is more common in men than in women. The early symptoms of ALS include muscle weakness and atrophy.

Sadly, this is an illness that develops quickly. "The average person typically lives between two to five years after the diagnosis," says Stephanie Dufner, communications manager at ALSA. The rate of progression of ALS, however, varies from person to person.

Presently, there is no cure for ALS. All they have is an FDA-approved drug called riluzole that is known to slow the degeneration to some extent.

The Ice Bucket Challenge was initiated by Pete Frates, a former college athlete from Boston who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27. Although the challenge wasn't brainchild, he helped it go viral this summer.

The premise of the challenge has taken on several forms—some say that once challenged, you have 24 hours to either donate to ALS or dump ice water on your head while others say you should do both. But even if someone chooses ice water over a donation, the increased awareness is still beneficial.

Never mind if you have been nominated for the challenge or not or simply have reservations emptying a bucket of ice cold water over your head, you can still go ahead and contribute to the cause. You can make donations at any ALS organizations and be a part of this crusade without getting wet.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury