Health Beyond Headlines

Measles is a viral infection that spreads through the air and is among the most contagious infectious diseases. It usually begins with symptoms that can look like an ordinary respiratory infection, but the illness can become much more serious, particularly in young children and people who are not immune.

Dengue is often thought of as a miserable but temporary infection, causing several days of fever, intense muscle and joint pain, headache and exhaustion before the person gradually recovers.

Cychlorphine is a synthetic opioid that has been showing up in illegal drugs in the United States and Europe, raising concern because people may take it without knowing it is there.

Glutamine is an amino acid produced by our own bodies and also found in food. It plays a role in several important functions, particularly those involving the muscles, intestines, and immune system.

A study published in Nature Cancer investigated whether L-glutamine could complement chemotherapy used to treat advanced pancreatic cancer. The results were promising, although the study was small and still at an early stage.

Overweight and obesity are commonly discussed in terms of calories, diet, and exercise, but body weight is regulated by biological systems that are considerably more complex than that explanation suggests.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is drawing attention to cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a condition that can cause repeated episodes of severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

Clinical evidence on cannabidiol (CBD) and medicinal cannabis is often difficult to interpret because the term “CBD” can describe interventions that are pharmacologically quite different.

Dengue is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes, and although it has long been associated with tropical and subtropical regions, it is no longer something that only travelers need to think about. The virus circulates in many parts of the world, and local transmission can occur wherever mosquitoes capable of spreading dengue are established.

Sometimes, anxiety does not feel like anxiety. It may look like a mind that will not slow down, a constant feeling that something is about to go wrong, or a body that seems to be reacting to a danger you cannot quite identify.

When someone starts a medication, there is usually an expectation attached to it. We expect the pain to decrease, the blood pressure to come down, an infection to resolve, a symptom to become manageable, or a future complication to become less likely. 

Mental health is often discussed through the lens of mental illness, as if there were only two polar opposites: illness and the absence of illness. So we talk about depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, eating disorders, substance use, and how to “beat” these conditions, and much of the public conversation starts and ends there. 

Women’s health is often used as a synonym for reproductive health, as if the only difference between female and male bodies were the reproductive system. Saying this is not the same as saying that menstruation, pregnancy, contraception, fertility, and menopause are not important parts of women’s health. It's just a reminder that sex also affects other parts of the body.