COPD Overview
What Is COPD? COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The term represents a progressive lung disease group that blocks airflow and makes breathing difficult for the patient. As it is a...
View ArticleAcne Overview
What Is Acne? Acne is a skin condition during which the hair follicles on the face are plugged with dead skin cells and oils. People who suffer acne typically develop it on the face, back, neck,...
View ArticleLaryngitis Overview
What Is Laryngitis? Laryngitis is a condition during which the larynx, or voice box, becomes inflamed. Laryngitis can be caused by infection, irritation, or overuse. The larynx contains two vocal...
View ArticleTuberculosis Overview
What Is Tuberculosis? Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that primarily affects a person’s lungs. Tuberculosis is spread because the bacteria that cause the condition can travel through the air...
View ArticleRabies Overview
What Is Rabies? Rabies is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals. The rabies virus is usually transmitted through a bite. Animals most likely to transmit rabies in the...
View ArticleTetanus Overview
What Is Tetanus? Tetanus is a serious bacterial disease that affects your nervous system, leading to painful muscle contractions, particularly of your jaw and neck muscles. Tetanus can interfere with...
View ArticleTonsillitis Overview
What Is Tonsillitis? Tonsillitis is the inflammation of one’s tonsils. The tonsils are two pads of tissue shaped like ovals. They are located at the back of one’s throat, one per side. Those with...
View ArticleYeast Infection Overview
Vaginal Yeast Infection Yeast infections in the vagina are a type of vaginitis. Vaginitis is the inflammation of the vagina. Yeast infections affect the patient’s vagina as well as the tissue at the...
View ArticlePancreatitis Overview
What Is Pancreatitis? Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas. An individual’s pancreas is a flat, long gland that is located in the upper abdomen. Its position can be described as tucked...
View ArticleEsophagitis Overview
What Is Esophagitis? Esophagitis is a medical condition that is characterized by an inflamed esophagus. The esophagus is the muscular, tube-shaped organ that delivers food and liquids from the mouth to...
View ArticleRosacea Overview
What Is Rosacea? Rosacea is a chronic skin condition in adults. Adults who have rosacea suffer redness on the face. Rosacea produces red, small, pus-filled pustules, or bumps. If the condition is not...
View ArticleEpilepsy Overview
What Is Epilepsy? Epilepsy is disorder of the central nervous system. This type of disorder is also referred to as a neurological disorder. Epilepsy disturbs the activity of the brain’s nerve cells....
View ArticleEczema Overview
What Is Eczema? Eczema is a general term that discusses inflammation of the skin. This inflammation is also known to be red and itchy for the patient. In some cases, the affected skin will blister,...
View ArticleVaginitis Overview
What Is Vaginitis? Vaginitis is a group of conditions that cause inflammation of the patient’s vagina. As a result, the patient may experience itching, pain, and discharge. Vaginitis is often caused by...
View ArticleGlaucoma Overview
What Is Glaucoma? Many believe that glaucoma is a single eye disease. Glaucoma is actually a group of medical conditions affecting the eye. Glaucoma causes damage to the optic nerve. As a result,...
View ArticleLupus Overview
What Is Lupus? Lupus is a medical condition that is characterized by chronic inflammation. Lupus occurs when the patient’s immune system begins to attack the body’s organs and tissues. The inflammation...
View ArticleLyme Disease Overview
What Is Lyme Disease? Lyme disease is a tick-borne condition that is caused by a bacterium that is often carried by deer ticks. It is transmitted when the ticks feed on blood from humans and animals....
View ArticleSleep Apnea Overview
What is Sleep Apnea? Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person stops breathing at times while sleeping. Sleep apnea can be dangerous, as the oxygen supply is cut off from the body during these...
View ArticleRubella Overview
What is Rubella? Rubella is a viral infection that is contagious. It is sometimes called German measles, because it shares some common symptoms with measles. It is an entirely different virus that...
View ArticleTendinitis Overview
What is Tendinitis? Tendinitis is a condition in which the tendon is swollen and painful. Tendons are what attach the muscles of the body to bones. Tendons are thick, elastic tissue, and typically move...
View ArticleGout Overview
What is Gout? Gout is a type of arthritis, and is sometimes called “gouty arthritis”. Patients that develop gout usually notice a sudden pain in the joints of the body. In many cases, the first joint...
View ArticleWest Nile Virus Overview
What is the West Nile Virus? The West Nile Virus is transmitted by mosquitoes. Reactions to the virus may vary from patient to patient. In many cases, the virus often doesn’t show any symptoms. When...
View ArticleCeliac Disease Overview
Immune Reaction Celiac disease is an immune disorder that causes an adverse reaction when gluten is ingested. Gluten is present in rye, wheat, and barley. When a person that has celiac disease eats...
View ArticleMyelofibrosis Overview
What is Myelofibrosis? Myelofibrosis is a bone marrow disorder that inhibits the body’s ability to make red and white blood cells. Myelofibrosis is a type of leukemia, which is a cancer that affects...
View ArticleHypothyroidism Overview
What is Hypothyroidism? Hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid, is a medical condition in which the thyroid does not produce enough of the chemicals that are needed to convert food into energy. The...
View ArticleConjunctivitis Overview
What is Conjunctivitis? Conjunctivitis is commonly known as pink eye. Conjunctivitis is an infection of the conjunctiva, which is the thin transparent layer that covers the eye. The infection causes...
View ArticleBrain Aneurism Overview
What is a Brain Aneurism? A brain aneurism is a protuberance in a blood vessel within the brain, usually about the size of a berry. Brain aneurisms are not dangerous unless they rupture, and many...
View ArticleUrinary Tract Infection Overview
What does a Urinary Tract Infection Affect? A urinary tract infection can affect any part of the urinary tract. This includes the ureters, the urethra, bladder, and kidneys. The infection can be called...
View ArticleCorns and Calluses Overview
What are Corns and Calluses? Corns and calluses are thickened layers of skin that form when there is continuous friction or pressure. The body attempts to protect the skin from damage in a process...
View ArticleNeck Pain Overview
Reasons for Neck Pain Neck pain is often caused by strain and poor posture. Staying in one fixed spot for too long, such as leaning in to peer at a television or leaning over a work bench can cause...
View ArticleAIDS and HIV Overview
What is AIDS? AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This disease is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HIV. Once HIV is in the system, it attacks the patient’s...
View ArticleYellow Fever Overview
Contracting Yellow Fever Yellow fever is a virus that is spread by mosquitoes. Yellow fever is most common in South America and Africa. Once contracted, the virus can be difficult to cure and can cause...
View ArticleEndometriosis Overview
Abnormal Tissue Growth Endometriosis is a condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus begins to grow outside of the uterus. This tissue may begin to grow on the ovaries, the bowels, or...
View ArticleHair Loss Overview
Reasons for Hair Loss Most people typically lose about 100 hairs per day, but these hairs grow back. There are a few reasons that hairs may not grow back, or that more hairs than this can be lost per...
View ArticleVaricose Veins Overview
What Are Varicose Veins? Varicose veins are veins in which blood has backed up. The vein becomes swollen and is visible through the skin. This happens more often in women than men, most commonly in the...
View ArticlePeptic Ulcer Overview
What is an Ulcer? An ulcer is an open sore that forms on the inside of the body and causes pain. A peptic ulcer is an ulcer that forms on the lining of the stomach, esophagus, or upper portion of …...
View ArticleSore Throat Overview
What is a Sore Throat? A sore throat is pain in the throat that worsens when swallowing. A sore throat can also be called pharyngitis. The most common causes of a sore throat are colds and influenza,...
View ArticleHantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Overview
Uncommon Disease Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is an illness that exhibits symptoms similar to influenza. The Hantavirus was first discovered in 1993, and is most often spread to humans by rodents. The...
View ArticleToxoplasmosis Overview
Parasite Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. This is one of the most common parasites in the world. It is estimated that about 60 million people in the united...
View ArticleAngina Overview
Chest Pain Angina is chest pain that occurs when there is not enough blood pumping through the heart. The heart needs the oxygen that the blood carries, so the lack of this oxygen can cause a sensation...
View ArticleUterine Prolapse Overview
What is a Uterine Prolapse? A uterine prolapse occurs when the uterus slips from its normal position in the body and down into the vagina. This can happen because of weakened muscles and ligaments in...
View ArticleSalmonella Infection Overview
What is Salmonella? Salmonella is a bacterium that lives in human and animal intestines. Salmonella infection is most commonly spread by ingesting contaminated food or water. Healthy patients that have...
View ArticleNeuropathy Overview
What is Neuropathy? Neuropathy, also referred to as peripheral neuropathy, is a condition in which nerve damage causes numbness, weakness, and pain. Neuropathy most often affects the hands and feet,...
View ArticleGaucher’s Disease Overview
Glucocerebrosidase Deficiency Gaucher’s disease is an uncommon hereditary disorder. In those with Gaucher’s disease, there is not enough of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase to break down all of the fats...
View ArticleDe Quervain’s Tenosynovitis Overview
What is De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis? De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, also called De Quervain’s syndrome, is a condition of the tendons in the wrist that causes pain in the thumb and wrist. Although the...
View ArticleKidney Stones Overview
What are Kidney Stones? Kidney stones form when high levels of certain substances are present in the urine. These substances are typically present in the urine, but high levels will cause the hard...
View ArticleAscariasis Overview
What is Ascariasis? Ascariasis is the most common type of roundworm infection in humans. Although it is very common worldwide, it is relatively rare in the United States. Roundworm is most commonly...
View ArticleIdiopathic Stabbing Headache Overview
What are Idiopathic Stabbing Headaches? Idiopathic stabbing headaches are sometimes called ice-pick headaches, as they are characterized by sharp, stabbing pain in different areas of the head. The pain...
View ArticleDandruff Overview
Itchy Flaky Scalp Dandruff is often characterized by itching and flaky skin on the scalp. Dandruff is very common and is suffered by many people around the world. Dandruff is not contagious, but may be...
View ArticleCold Sore Overview
What are Cold Sores? Cold sores are painful blisters that most commonly appear on and around the lips, but can appear inside of the mouth, in and around the nose, and on other areas of the body. Cold...
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