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Showing posts with the label common diseases

DISEASES SINCE 1914

  KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SUPERSTITION         In the 14 th  century, when the Black Death threatened the pope’s household in Avignon, his doctor informed him that the conjunction of three planets- Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars –in the sign of Aquarius was the principal cause of the plague.       Some four centuries later, George Washington went to bed with a sore throat. Three eminent doctors treated the infection by draining some two liters of blood from his veins. Within a few hours, the patient was dead. Bloodletting was standard medical practice for 2,500 years –from the time of Hippocrates until the mid-19 th  century.      Although superstition and tradition delayed medical progress, dedicated doctors work hard to discover the causes of infectious diseases and remedies for them. Below are a few of the significant breakthroughs they made.    SMALLPOX: In 1798, Edward Jenner successfully developed a vaccine for smallpox. During the 20 th  century, vaccines have proved effective in preventing

HOW TO HANDLE DISEASES

Every day your body wages war against enemies that are silent and unseen but potentially deadly. Foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, threaten your health. Most microbes do not cause disease. This article focuses on microorganisms and other infective agents that threaten your health. You are not likely to be aware of those battles because your immune system repels or destroys most of the invaders before the onset of symptoms. Sometimes, however, the harmful germs gain the upper hand. If so, you may need to bolster your defenses with medicine and other treatments. For thousands of years, people knew virtually nothing about the dangers of microscopic or other small harmful organisms. However, when 19th-century scientists confirmed the link between germs and disease, we became better equipped to defend ourselves. Medical researchers have since eliminated or greatly reduced the threat of some infectious diseases, including smallpox and polio. Recently, however, ot

HOW ALCOHOL CAN DAMAGE YOU

HOW ALCOHOL CAN DAMAGE YOU Brain cell loss, memory loss, depression, aggressive behavior Vision, speech, coordination impairment Cancer of throat, mouth, breast, liver. Heart muscle weakness, potential heart failure Liver fatty, then enlarged, then scarred [cirrhosis] Pregnant women risk of deformed or retarded babies Other risks, poor immune system, ulcers, inflammation of pancreas.

3O DISEASES AND THEIR HERBAL CURES

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                                   There are a wide variety of healing methods that are not generally accepted by practitioners of conventional medicine. These are generally known as traditional medicine and alternative medicine. In developing countries the majority of the populations rely on traditional medicine for their health needs. In poor areas many cannot afford conventional medical treatments, while other people simply prefer traditional methods.                             Alternative forms of medicine are also thriving in wealthy countries. Among the most popular types of alternative treatment are acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy, and herbal medicine. Some of these practices have been scientifically studied and proved beneficial for certain a condition, the effectiveness of certain methods, however, has not been adequately established.                       The increased popularity of alternative types of medicine has raised some