Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On August 31, 1854, a seminal moment in the history of illness and scientific application of anti-disease efforts struck the Broad Street area of Soho, London, England, when a severe cholera outbreak began.  Before it was over, 626 people would die of the disease, but scientific study of the outbreak would lead to the saving of millions of lives in the future.  (Note: The neighborhood of the outbreak is now known as Carnaby Street.) Digging Deeper Small outbreaks of cholera had plagued London in 1854, and on August 31 the Broad Street area was hit.  The cholera…

A Brief History Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is an intolerance of chemicals, cleaning products, pesticides, smells, odors, fragrances, etc. and exposure to such substances may cause physiological and psychological side effects that can resemble allergic reactions.  Sufferers, sometimes fearing for their lives, are often forced to avoid social gatherings; many can no longer pursue employment as the workplace environment may not be safe; and most live isolated and lonely lives with others showing little understanding, consideration or sympathy for their predicament. Digging Deeper Deemed an environmental illness, MCS can also be described as a “mystery illness” such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease, electromagnetic…

A Brief History On March 26, 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, alias “Dr. Death,” was convicted of second-degree murder in Michigan for giving a terminally ill man a lethal injection at the man’s request.  The 52-year-old man was succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), a particularly dreadful way to die. Digging Deeper Kevorkian had previously championed the right of dying people to end their own suffering with medical assistance and had devised machines that allowed the patient to kill themselves by either adding a lethal drip to an IV or by inhaling lethal gas through a mask they put on themselves.  He had already been tried…

A Brief History On February 16, 2006, the United States Army decommissioned the last of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals, or MASH as they were called.  Since the Army is staffed by educated and intelligent people (mostly), they obviously had a backup plan, and that is the Combat Support Hospital (CSH pronounced cash). Digging Deeper Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals had served the combat medical needs of the U.S. Army since their inception in 1945, continuing through the Korean and Viet Nam Wars and then in the conflicts in the Middle East until being replaced by Combat Support Hospitals. Famously depicted in the 1968…

A Brief History On January 2, 2009, Maria de Jesus of Portugal died in her home at age 115.  At the time of her death, she was the oldest living person in the world and the 20th oldest recorded person ever to live.  Maria ate fish, but not meat, and never drank alcohol or smoked.  Digging Deeper Every so often, you hear of a centenarian who drank and smoked every day of his or her life right up to the end, which was not the case with Maria.  So what does the trick?  Did Maria live so long due to her healthy diet and habits? …