Of the scores of parasitic diseases that can afflict humans, schistosomiasis is among the most devastating. Yet it is still not a well known disease in developed nations despite global travel placing more people at risk than just residents of endemic areas. Schistosomiasis infects over 200 million people throughout the >> Read More ...
Vomiting is an unpleasant experience that most of us would prefer to avoid altogether. But it is a common mechanism by which the body rids the upper digestive tract of any irritants. The problem arises when food is vomited repeatedly after a meal. This compromises the body’s nutritional status affects one’s >> Read More ...
Digestive problems are among the most common medical complaints. It can be acute where the symptoms last for a short period of time and resolve with/without treatment, or it can be chronic where the symptoms persist or occur episodically. Although the symptoms along with a case history may be sufficient for a diagnosis, at >> Read More ...
The pesky mosquito is a nuisance to most of us but it can in fact be deadly. Mosquitoes cause more deaths globally than any other insect. However, this has to be put into context because it is not the mosquito itself that is so deadly but rather the parasites that it may spread through its bites. While many of these >> Read More ...
House flies are such a common insect that it is considered part of everyday life for humans. Most of us see it as just an irritation, buzzing around and trying to feed on any food it can access within the home but flies can also transmit diseases. In fact many common infections are transmitted by house flies. Some diseases >> Read More ...
Infarction is a term that is often associated with the heart. A myocardial infarction is the medical term for a heart attack. When an infarct occurs in the brain then we refer to it as a stroke. But an infarct is not only restricted to these organs. It can occur in any part of the body. The intestines (bowels) are just as >> Read More ...
What is abdominal angina? Abdominal angina is a type of abdominal pain that starts after eating (postprandial pain) as the blood flow to the bowels are insufficient to for the increased demands. The bowels are essentially starved of oxygen eventually leading to damage and even tissue death over time. It is an uncommon >> Read More ...
Abdominal pain is one of the most common symptoms that both children and adults experience in life. However, it is not always pain but sometimes a discomfort, also described as an ache, or cramping that is the cause of the unpleasant feeling in the abdomen. Most of the time it is associated with the digestive tract and >> Read More ...
There are many different types of parasitic worms that can infect humans. Roundworms are one such type. There are some 500,000 species of roundworms and about 60 are known to infect humans. It can infect a number of different organs in the human body, not only the digestive tract as is often though. Most infections are not >> Read More ...
Headaches remain one of the leading causes for doctor visits among adults across the globe. There pain can vary in nature, intensity and location. Sometimes the pain is diffuse and felt throughout the head. At other times the pain in a headache can be localized to one specific spot or region of the head. A forehead >> Read More ...
