The recent salmonellosis outbreak linked to ground turkey has spanned at least 31 states so far, reminding us all of the importance of maintaining excellent standards of food hygiene. But it’s not just our food that’s at risk of infection. In recent years, increasing numbers of pet products have been recalled due to contamination or…
A third of us are infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can be transmitted to us by animals. Cats represent a major source of this organism, and are therefore a common route of infection for us since they continually shed the parasite. Consequently we can become infected with Toxoplasma gondii if we come into…
There seem to be increasing initiatives across the country these days to encourage people to be healthy and keep fit. One in particular that focuses on solving the problem of childhood obesity, was the Let’s Move initiative, launched on February 10th, 2010 by First Lady Michelle Obama. Currently almost one in three children is either overweight or…
This past weekend I had an enjoyable experience in Ogdensburg, upstate NY at their annual Founder’s Day commemoration of the region’s French colonial history. They held a re-enactment of the French-Indian War, bringing the mid-18th century to life for a couple of days. One of the events I attended there was a lecture on “18th…
Every year, over 40 million people in the US suffer from anxiety disorder, and more than 20 million will experience some depressive illness. Although anxiety is a natural reaction of the body to any risk, threat, or danger, if your worries become a recurring theme and prevent you from living a normal life, this could suggest an anxiety…
The latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine describes the results of an interesting series of cases of respiratory symptoms in a group of soldiers returning from deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Eighty soldiers at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, were referred for medical evaluation due to respiratory symptoms between 2004-2009. All were unable to…
A study published online this week in the American Journal of Hypertension has rubbed salt in the wounds of the old belief that excessive salt intake contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease A group of researchers from the University of Exeter in England analyzed the results of seven clinical studies. Collectively these studies involved…
The hip is one of the most common fracture sites in people, with hip fractures most frequently occurring in elderly patients, representing an extremely serious outcome of osteoporosis. In younger patients, hip fractures typically occur as a result of high impact injuries, such as those associated with a traffic accident. Patients with osteoporosis, however, have…
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, once said: “If you want to study medicine, go to war”. In 1776 there were only 3,500 physicians in the colonies. These men clearly played a disproportionate role during the Revolutionary War, with around 1,300 of them serving as military surgeons at this time. During the war, anyone with medical…
A recent study indicates that being married might actually improve the likelihood of survival for patients with colon cancer. Researchers studied the medical records of 127, 753 patients and determined that married people with colon cancer were 14% less likely to die than unmarried patients with the disease. Interestingly, the benefit of marriage was almost identical in both men and…
