My brother-in-law’s test results found he had swine flu. Suddenly, the airline, the hotel in Hawaii, the hospitals, and the local health department were very interested in them. By the time they knew, it was already mostly done. Can we afford to make a joke out of it and write it off as another fear tactic? No. It is not nearly that harmless.

I know that our government wants to avoid panic. On the other hand, I don’t expect people in positions of authority to sit there and pretend that everything is fine. That is not crisis management. That is avoidance.

There is more than one doctor out there who is making a connection between the greater number of sports injuries that people are suffering and the food that they eat.

The Centers for Disease Control reported this week that as many as one out of every four girls has at least one sexually transmitted disease. That includes the human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis.

One hundred and forty three million pounds of beef was put on hold at the end of January as the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided what to do about it. In the end, they recalled it. That’s not before countless numbers of Americans were already exposed to the potentially harmful meat, however, in the form of hamburgers, sloppy joes and school lunches.

Explanation and Causes: Around the heart and the major blood vessels of the heart is a sac called the pericardial sac. Pericarditis is when this sac becomes inflamed and starts to swell. This presents problems for normal beating of the heart and irritation of the heart tissue due to the rubbing of the sac against [...]

Explanation and Causes: Pancreatitis can come in two forms. It can be diagnosed as chronic or acute. Acute usually results from a one time injury or illness while chronic stems from a constant irritant that irreparably damages the pancreas. Smoking or alcohol would constitute cause of chronic pancreatitis. The pancreas is located directly behind the [...]

Explanation and Causes: Tetanus is caused by bacterial toxins that cause severe muscle spasms. The nerves of the muscular system are the primary target. These muscle spasms can make it very difficult to swallow or even breathe. The bacteria grow and multiply the best in non-oxygen conditions such as in a deep, dirty cut or [...]

Explanation and Causes: Rabies affects all mammals including humans. It is a disease of the central nervous system caused by a virus that is spread by the saliva or brain matter. While this disease is limited to a few wildlife animals, it is more wide spread in developing countries that don’t have the proper vaccines [...]

Explanation and Causes: This disease occurs when toxins produced from bacteria become so prevalent in the body, they elicit a massive immune response. When such an immune response takes place, it begins to destroy the bacteria as well as bacteria that we depend on in the gut. This immune response also starts to destroy the [...]