Moderate alcohol use—up to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women and older people—is not considered harmful for most adults (a standard drink is 12-ounces of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits). Many people, however, exceed this level of consumption and get into…...

According to the CDC, 25.8 million children and adults in the United States - representing 8.3% of the population - have diabetes. This represents an increase of roughly 15 percent in just the past few years. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misunderstanding about this disease, some of which can lead to a delay…...

Microbes are microscopic living organisms, such as bacteria and fungi. Although often categorized as microbes, viruses are very different. In fact, since viruses are unable to grow or reproduce unless they enter a living cell, viruses are sometimes not considered to be living creatures at all. In order to compare and contrast viral and bacterial…...

Last article, we looked at how bacteria and viruses differed. Some of these differences, such as viruses being unable to cause harm unless they invade a living host, have a bearing on the nature of the infections that they cause, as well as the way that the infections that they cause are treated. In some…...

The left-hand column below lists the 10 most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S. in the order of the frequency that they are prescribed. In the right column are the most common side effects of these medications in no particular order.  See if you can match the medication with its most common side effects.  In…...

Perform a google search on "the most important medical breakthroughs" and you are likely to find items such as "Man Walks Again after Being Chopped in Half" or "Teen lived 118 days without Heart".  But in terms of having an effect on decreasing the burden of disease and increasing longevity, there are three much less…...

A single blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence doubles a person's chances of developing melanoma skin cancer later in life.  Other types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, are directly related to long-term sun exposure.  Children often spend a good part of their day playing outdoors in the sun, especially during…...

Recently, several reports of infections caused by "flesh eating bacteria" have appeared in the news.  Such infections have been responsible for amputations as well as death.  In one instance, the infection appears to have developed after a serious cut was exposed to contaminated water.  Just how common is this disease and do we need to…...