On autism
As an internist, I know little about autism. Occasionally somone will ask me about it. I have even received at least one email which I could not answer. This article will have great interest to some readers – it discusses the thimerosal hypothesis – and gives all the evidence against thimerosal as a cause of autism. Vaccines and Autism, Beyond the Fear Factors
Natural is not necessarily a welcome word to physicians – a case
In Medicine, Nature Plays Dirty Tricks
Like most doctors, I hear the word “natural” a dozen times a day. People ask for a “natural” treatment for their insomnia, constipation or sinusitis. They discuss the “natural” vitamin-based remedy they have found on their own. They stop a prescription medication because it isn’t “natural” and head for any of a variety of herbal cures instead.
These natural alternatives are not always inexpensive: profiteers lurk in that arena just like any other. Vitamins are made with exactly the same sophisticated chemical techniques as any drug. Herbs are not always gentle, effective or safe, as the recent spate of ephedra-associated deaths shows.
But no matter the age, sex, education or income of a patient, “natural” is, it seems, preferable these days to the synthetic unnatural treatments that unenlightened agents of orthodox medicine like me are condemned to dispense.
When exactly was it that Mother Nature picked up such a reputation for benevolence? It seems that at some point everyone forgot that if it’s natural you want, serious disease is one of the most natural phenomena of all.
Every time I hear the word “natural” I think of Charlie, a man whose right foot should have been cast in bronze and displayed in a museum as graphic evidence of “natural” at its worst.
Read the rest of the article to learn about Charlie, his diabetes, and the results of ignoring medical advice.
Another SARS article about coronavirus
The CDC is honing in on a variety of coronavirus. More information in this article – Cold Virus Linked to Outbreak CDC Says New Version of Coronavirus Is Likely Cause
No drugs are known to work against coronaviruses. But the CDC is working with the Defense Department to test existing antiviral agents to see if any kill the virus, and to develop tests for the virus. A test would help confirm suspected cases, and determine whether healthy people can carry the virus.
Nine of 11 laboratories working together around the world to identify the cause of the new disease have found evidence of a paramyxovirus in patients, Heymann said. But in addition to the CDC, two other laboratories have found evidence of a coronavirus.
The disease, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), is the first new life-threatening infection that can be spread from one person to another to emerge in decades.
Medical research does work fast when necessary!
