For many years doctors had a nickname for pneumonia. They called it the “Old Man’s Friend.”1
Before antibiotics, pneumonia had a reputation for carrying the old and infirm to a swift and relatively painless death.
Merle Haggard was not so lucky.
He battled the disease for months. The country star had pneumonia in both lungs. He died Wednesday. It was his 79th birthday.… Read More
Hollywood legend Patty Duke likely had one chance at survival.
The beloved star of “The Patty Duke Show” contracted sepsis after suffering a ruptured intestine.
The best hope for any sepsis patient is early treatment, say doctors.1 Once the condition progresses, it spins out of control. Poisons spill into the blood and death follows quickly.
… Read MoreGarry Shandling seemed perfectly fine Thursday morning.
He spoke to friends on the phone who said the comic seemed completely normal.
But a few hours later he was dead. A massive heart attack is the suspected cause.1 The star of “The Larry Sanders Show” was only 66.
When someone dies suddenly of a heart problem, those close to the victim often say they were stricken without warning.… Read More
Just when you thought the Zika epidemic couldn’t get any worse… It’s a scene right out of a horror movie. Scientists in Brazil are planning to release millions of mutant mosquitos to combat the virus.1,2
Here’s the plan: They want to use radiation to sterilize genetically engineered male mosquitos. Then they’ll unleash them into the wild by the millions. There, they will breed with females.… Read More
Super Bowl bashes might never be the same. It’s the biggest day of the year for pizza deliveries. Some 12.5 million were delivered for last year’s game.1
But it turns out that pizza delivery box is full of health-damaging chemicals.
Three substances commonly found in pizza cardboard containers were just banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.2,3
The three are part of a group of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs.… Read More
There’s a deadly danger hiding in your… Toast.
America’s favorite breakfast side item carries a grave health risk, according to a new report from the Food Standards Agency.
The World Health Organization calls a chemical found in burnt toast a “major concern.”1 The International Agency for Research on Cancer agrees it’s a “probable human carcinogen.”2 The FDA urges people to avoid it.… Read More