Over the past decade, the consumption of probiotic dietary supplements has been increasing steadily. You walk into any drugstore, and there are so many different brands, it gets confusing. What exactly are probiotics? How do they benefit our health? Are there any risks of taking probiotics? These questions will be addressed in today’s post. According […]
4 infectious diseases you can get from bad dental hygiene
Can you imagine getting an infection in your brain from bacteria in your mouth? Or maybe an infection of one of your heart valves, or one of your joints? Well, believe it or not, bacteria from the mouth can spread to distant areas of the body, causing serious, sometimes life threatening, infectious diseases. How do […]
The newest HPV vaccine…Should you get it even if you already got one of the older vaccines?
The updated adult immunization guidelines came out this week so now is a good time to talk about vaccines. Actually, just last week, two colleagues asked me whether or not they should recommend their young patients get the newest 9-type HPV vaccine, even though they were vaccinated with one of the older versions (2-type or […]
It’s (almost) impossible to avoid mosquito bites if you live in the tropics
Well…mosquito borne infections have been back in the mainstream news for the past few months, in particular, Zika virus infection. What has captivated us all about Zika virus is it’s apparent association with birth defects, particularly microcephaly (an abnormally small head usually resulting in brain damage). Anything that disproportionately targets pregnant woman and their unborn […]