If you live with pain on a day to day basis, you will know how much it can take over your life. You plan your days around your pain, avoiding activities that aggravate it in favor of a more sedentary existence that usually involves the couch. Things that you once enjoyed doing fall by the […]
Is a cure for peanut allergy in sight?
If you or your child has a serious peanut allergy, you know how stressful it can be. The passive approach of trying to avoid contact with peanuts isn’t easy. While keeping your home nut-free is reasonably achievable, you have little control over how friends and family keep theirs. Not to mention the challenges faced by […]
Are you prepared for a world without antibiotics?
There has not been a new antibiotic class discovered since1987. Which has experts worried. Antibiotic resistance is now recognized as a major threat to public health. And we have got to a point where there is hardly any treatment alternatives left for some bacterial infections. This means that some illnesses that were once easily treated […]
Be Gone, Infectious Disease!
Infectious diseases are any infections caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi that can be spread from human to human, either by direct contact or indirectly via vectors such as animals, food or water, or bodily fluids. Common infectious diseases include the flu, hepatitis, HIV, malaria, pneumonia, and Strep throat, and chances are, you had […]
When even colors hurt
Having battery acid poured on your brain, splitting your head in half with an ax, being in so much pain that colors hurt and the sun is too loud. These are all ways migraines have been described by people who endure them frequently, sometimes as often as three times a week. A migraine is not […]
No Baby Plus No HIV
What if there was a device that could stop you from getting pregnant as well as protect you from HIV? Well, one day soon, there might be. Researchers are currently working on a vaginal ring that releases both levonorgestrel (a contraceptive hormone) and dapivirine (an antiviral effective against HIV) that can be left in place […]
Vitamin D: Our most controversial vitamin?
Over the past two decades, we have learned a lot about vitamin D. For a start, it shouldn’t really be called a vitamin, because it isn’t. A vitamin is defined as “A compound that is vital for normal growth and nutrition that is required in small quantities in our diet because it is not made by […]
Beware the online pharmacy in sheep’s clothing
Buying medicines online is very tempting. Shopping from the safety of your couch in your living room seems like a great way to save time and money, particularly when these drugs are just soooooooo much cheaper than what your local drug store can offer.But the old saying “If it seems too good to be true, […]
Am I too old for the HPV vaccine?
Last week, the FDA announced it had approved expanded use of the HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9) to include those aged 27 through 45. Previously, approval only covered males and females aged nine through 26. But how effective is the vaccine when you are older and is it worthwhile? The HPV vaccine protects against nine different […]
Is that generic really the same as your branded drug?
You’re at the pharmacy with a script from your doctor and you’ve been told you can choose between the brand-name drug and its generic equivalent. The difference in cost is significant. But does that equate to a difference in effectiveness or side effects? Bringing a new drug to market costs over 2.6 billion dollars and […]