“We should go to Africa for our next vacation.” said my friend. “Africa?” I questioned. Imagining exotic diseases, I shuddered at the thought, while my friend was contemplating an open-jeep safari in the grasslands of Kenya racing a zebra. Each year million of...
You have a fever of 100 degrees and a runny nose, but you still manage to go to work. So you think you have the flu? Nope. You don’t have the flu. Relax, it’s just a common cold. The flu is – well, like getting hit by a Mack truck. Symptoms of flu include sudden...
Mrs. Scott insisted she had been bitten by a spider as she caressed a deep ulcer on her right thigh.” “Did you see the spider?” I asked. “No, but it looks like a spider bite” she said. When we got the wound culture report back, we realized it was not a spider bite,...
Last week I along with several of my public health colleagues sat with Governor Bredesen during lunch. He pointed to us and asked “I need a simple message. Just as children we learned that ‘we must brush our teeth daily and visit the dentist,’ what message can I use...
As a doctor I rarely recommend herbal or alternative therapy for the common cold to my patients, but as a parent I use it all the time. Why such different behaviors? The common cold is “common” occurring 1 to 3 times a year in an average American. Yet, the...
