Influenza is a viral illness characterized by fever, sore throat, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, headache, and severe malaise and body aches. After being exposed to the virus either by touching a contaminated surface and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth, or being within 6 feet of an infected person who is coughing or […]

So… a few months ago, I was asked to help take care of a young patient who was admitted with a horrible leg infection. This patient was well over 500 pounds heavy and had a sore on one leg which was unbelievably foul smelling. I made the recommendations for antibiotic therapy and gave the patient […]

“Doc, my husband has Salmonella and I don’t. How come? We’ve been eating the same thing!” This is a question that I’ve gotten asked one too many times this summer. I say one too many, because though Salmonella infection is one of the commonest causes of bacterial food-borne illness, most cases are not severe enough […]

Clostridium difficile, or C. diff. for short, is a monster which you never want to have to deal with. Ever. Not as a patient, and really, not as a doctor. C. diff. is a bacteria that is actually present in the environment (particularly the soil); we can get contaminated with it and it does not […]