Hepatitis C is a viral infection that is usually spread through contact with infected blood. Prior to 1992, when testing of donated blood and organs became commonplace, many people were infected through blood transfusion and organ transplants. Now the most common method of infection is the sharing of needles or other equipment for injecting drugs. About 3.2 million people are estimated to have chronic hepatitis C infection in the U.S. Over decades, chronic infection can lead to liver failure a...
More
Azithromycin Might Kill You, but That’s Not Why You Shouldn’t Take It
This week the FDA issued a warning about the antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax). The media stories have some patients terrified and some of them are calling me convinced that azithromycin is poison, a reliable agent for suicide.
What’s... Normal Test Results are Often Not Reassuring
Every primary care doctor has been faced with this situation. A patient reports vague symptoms and is very worried that they are a sign of a catastrophic illness. The symptoms aren't even slightly suggestive of the disease the patient is worried about, but the patient’s neighbor’s brother-in-law was just diagnosed with the same disease, and so the patient is pretty sure that he has it too. The doctor is not at all suspicious that the patient has this disease. The doctor believes that the patie...
More