Cause

Molluscum contagiosum is a common viral skin infection. It is most common amongst children, but can also affect adolescents and adults. It is spread via direct skin contact with an infected person. The incubation period can be up to 2 months.

Clinical features

Molluscum contagiosum is characterised by clusters of small pinkish lumps with pits in the [...]

Grandparents play an important role in a child’s life. They provide the child with love, and may have more time to spend with him than parents, who are often both working. In turn, a grandchild can provide grandparents with much happiness and fulfilment. Elderly people, who may be retired, and especially those who are ill [...]

Go to a well-stocked bookstore and select two hardcover books. Pure fiction only. No “how to do its.” Buy two different color markers and underline interesting parts of the first of the books you read. If you don’t have time to read, you are too stressed and must make more time before you make more [...]

All relationships end. It is just a matter of how and when. Those “really hot” relationships, the ones that seem very early to be the real thing, are the most likely to have high dumping potential. Getting dumped is one of the most painful of human experiences. Avoid it at all costs.

You avoid [...]

The most common form of scoliosis is known as idiopathic which really means “of unknown cause”. The common form of scoliosis usually affects the upper part of the spine in the thorax or chest.

It is more common in girls and usually makes its appearance in the 10 to 12 years age group.

Once it develops it [...]

This rash develops around the mouth and may be flat and red or raised with small pimples and leave a clear zone immediately around the mouth.

As soon as the cortisone treatment is reduced or stopped, the rash flares again and is difficult to treat. It appears to be more common in young women, but why [...]

Recent research on the dental health of children in the northern suburbs of Sydney revealed a great reduction in dental decay, or caries.

In 1960, a study showed more than 90 per cent of TSluldren had active dental decay, yet the recent survey showed less than 25 per cent in the same community were now affected.

The [...]

Of late, vitamin A has been much in the news as a drug that reduces the incidence of certain cancers. Accordingly, for the sake of fair balance, we felt that our readers should be told about a recent report in the Western Journal of Medicine (137:429).

A young woman visited her doctor because dryness of the [...]

 
Symptoms

Sudden abdominal pain; cramping pain; diarrhea; vomiting

Home care

Apply mild heat to the abdomen.

Treat constipation by changing the child’s diet or with a glycerin suppository.

Precautions

-    Do not try to relieve stomach pain by giving a laxative or placing ice on the stomach.

-    If you cannot diagnose the child’s pain as being due to a cause such as constipation, [...]

Smoking diseases are diseases caused directly or indirectly by smoking tobacco. The best known is lung cancer but this is only the tip of the iceberg, as we shall see.

Smoking is the single greatest cause of death in the UK, and the World Health Organization has said that the control of smoking would do more [...]