H1N1, the flu previously known as swine, is still in the news, but this week for a good reason.
Most of us still have little to worry about. The CDC estimates that over a million Americans have been sick with H1N1 flu as of July 24. The vast majority of illnesses were mild and resolved without incident, many without any treatment. As of that same date there have been 5,011 hospitalizations and 302 deaths. That means that getting sick with H1N1 flu caries half a percent chance of hospitaliz...
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It’s West Nile Virus Season
The news is still flooded with stories about Swine Flu, which will continue to demand the attention of public health officials, but probably doesn’t need much more attention from the public.
Meanwhile summertime brings mosquitoes which bring West Nile Virus. West Nile Virus is transmitted to people by mosquito bites. Most infected people have a very mild illness, but some develop encephalitis (brain inflammation) or meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord). There ...
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Travelers Troubled by Thrombosis
Prolonged immobility has long been known to increase the risk of blood clots forming in veins in the legs (the medical term for which is deep venous thrombosis). Blood clots in the legs can be quite painful and debilitating but they can also travel to the lungs which can be life threatening. So doctors use medicines or inflatable leg squeezing devices to prevent blood clots in hospitalized patients who are bed-bound. But there is a much more common time when we all are fairly immobilized – tr...
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