Questions tagged [disease]
Questions about pathology; impairments of health or a condition of abnormal bodily functions.
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Does legalizing of prostitution lead to lowered spread of STIs in the general population?
I've found a number of articles claiming that legalizing prostitution is linked to lowed STIs. I could link a dozen other articles. Every one makes slightly different claims but they all seem to ...
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Are vaccinated children significantly less healthy than the unvaccinated, as recent study claims?
In their 2020 study termed "Relative Incidence of Office Visits and Cumulative Rates of Billed Diagnoses Along the Axis of Vaccination" [full text], appearing in the International Journal of ...
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Can avoiding certain foods reduce inflammation? (Gluten, sugar...)
Lots of articles and books claim from moderate (help reduce inflammation) to miraculous (cure or completely eliminate symptoms of autoimmune disorders) claims about doing strict diets that avoid ...
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During the disintegration of the Soviet Union, was there a surge of child allergies in Tajikistan because people hoarded soap?
The Hesitant U.S. Rescue of the Soviet Economy Wilson Quarterly (Fall 2016):
By November 1990, Professor Graham Allison of Harvard University had become alarmed at the deterioration of the Soviet ...
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Do antibiotic resistant infections kill 700,000 people a year?
The BBC news website ran a piece earlier this month by Dr Michael Mosley, which included the following claim:
The problem is not, of course, confined to India. It's estimated that antibiotic-...
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To what degree do facemasks protect against COVID-19?
I've seen this picture multiple times on social media. Every time I see it, it has numbers that vary wildly, and usually with no source.
Examples:
Advert for facemasks
Twitter comments
Actors ...
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Do studies show that viruses are contagious?
An acquaintance of mine has been very adamant that viruses can't be caught and continues to link me things like this Ickonic video, where Jaymie Icke interviews Dr. Andrew Kaufman M.D. who claims:
I ...
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In February 2020, did Tencent release accurate statistics for the Wuhan coronavirus that were 10 times the official figures?
Taiwan News reported the following on February 5:
As many experts question the veracity of China's statistics for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, Tencent over the weekend seems to have inadvertently ...
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Is Lyme disease a global pandemic?
Avril Lavigne posted a video on Facebook featuring some celebrities talking about Lyme Disease. At the 0:13 mark, American singer/song-writer, Bebe Rexha, claims:
Lyme disease is a global pandemic, ...
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Does Chronic Lyme exist?
Some people claim that lyme disease can last for months or even years, and that they require long term medical treatment (usually antibiotics).
Is there any medical evidence for this? Or is it ...
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Was COVID-19 in Italy by September 2019?
The claim:
The research is based on the analysis of blood samples from 959 people, collected during lung cancer screening tests...
Some 23 of the positive results date back to September 2019, ...
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Is there a dramatic decrease in the number of diagnoses of noninfectious diseases?
According to an article in the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger, the CEO of Novartis (one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies) stated in a phone conference on quarterly financials that
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Are 40% of the oceans' bacteria killed by viruses every day?
In the March 9, 2018 column of newspaper columnist Cecil Adams' column The Straight Dope, he speaks about the possible benefits of treating bacterial infections with bacteriophages, viruses that ...
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Was the Brazilian Zika virus outbreak centered in a place where GMO mosquitoes were released?
A blogger claims:
By July 2015, shortly after the GM mosquitoes were first released into
the wild in Juazeiro, Brazil, Oxitec proudly announced they had
“successfully controlled the Aedes aegypti ...
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Do young people with no previous pathologies, end up admitted with bilateral pneumonia and serious breathing difficulties due Covid-19?
In this link https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/347806-fuese-segunda-guerra-mundial-doctora (Spanish) which also contains the YouTube video (where she says basically all of the text mentioned in the ...
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Is fever (temperature) below 106° F harmful?
Parents and pediatricians rush to treat low grade fever with acetaminophen and other powerful pain killers. Medical researchers refer to the over zealous treatment of non hazardous fever as fever ...
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Is Lyme Disease endemic in Australia?
The New South Wales state government's Health department has a fact sheet about Lyme disease:
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
Typical symptoms include fever, ...
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Do fevers caused by infection not exceed 105 °F (40.6 °C)?
This question is prompted by but distinct from Is fever (temperature) below 106° F harmful? That question asks about whether fevers below that temperature can cause harm. This question is asking ...
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Is eating fish and drinking milk at the same time linked with skin disease?
I heard from several people that drinking milk or dairy products while eating fish can lead towards a special skin pigmentation disorders such as different skin color or bright spots on skin.
I ...
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Is the Zika virus a serious threat?
An article on WGNO.com makes the following claims on the Zika virus:
A relatively new mosquito-borne virus is prompting worldwide concern because of an alarming connection to a neurological birth ...
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Can the BCG vaccine cure type 1 diabetes?
There are two principal types of diabetes which are very different diseases, though they have similar symptoms. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body's ability to make insulin is ...
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Getting ill because of staying in a draft/draught?
In Germany it’s a common belief that drafts/draughts can make you ill.
Because of that, car and train windows typically get/stay closed, even when it’s really hot; and, for instance, on a warm day in ...
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Does female genital mutilation reduce the risk of a woman's partner getting HPV?
If you love your husband
Get yourself circumcised
Because the germs under your prepuce
Can reach his mouth when he pleasures your clitoris
And cause him oral cancer
...
The culprit ...
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Can teasel root cure Lyme?
I do not have Lyme disease but get bitten by ticks several times a year so it does have my interest. I read some claims that a 'tincture of teasel root extracts' or similar can be used to cure Lyme ...
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"For generations it was considered improper to die of cancer"?
In On the Accuracy of Economic Observations (1963, 2e, p. 23), Oskar Morgenstern claims that
for generations it was considered improper to die of cancer, hence little mention of this disease.
I ...
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Do an estimated 1 in 3 Americans have an undiagnosed thyroid disease?
I came across an advertisement for the movie The Thyroid Secret, which claims (sic caps):
[Shocking] 1 in 3 Americans Have Thyroid Disease And Are Often Told That They are Crazy, Fat or Lazy, When ...
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Can this Ayurvedic concoction reduce chances of swine flu?
The Indian Government is openly distributing an Ayurvedic Kadha ( concoction) that claims to reduce the chances of contracting Swine Flu. They're doing this along with the sale of vaccines for Swine ...
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Should a tick be removed by pulling (with tweezers)?
I have recently been bitten by a tick. Obviously I don't want to catch some disease (or infection). In my search for how to remove it, I discovered this page:
Center for Disease Control and ...
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Do antibiotics weaken your immune system?
Recently, my friend told me that antibiotics will weaken your immune system. Their reasoning is that:
Antibiotics remove the harmful bacteria from you, but they also remove the natural disease ...
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Does stopping antibiotics early increase risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreading?
A 2014 Discover Magazine article suggests that stopping a prescription of antibiotics earlier - when you feel healthy - may reduce the risk of antibiotic-reisstant bacteria spreading, rather than ...
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Is catnip ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET?
Linked from this Travel.SE answer, I saw a surprising claim in Science Daily from 2001:
Researchers report that nepetalactone, the essential oil in catnip that gives the plant its characteristic ...
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Is "Syphilis: All of these men have it" a WWII propaganda poster?
Spotted via https://twitter.com/LI_politico/status/692846941034549248 (courtesy of a parody picture in https://twitter.com/Megapope/status/692850205297741827), but described as real by Mother Jones in ...
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Do 80 percent of sexually active people get infected with HPV?
The Cleveland Clinic claimed on a page about HPV:
HPV that affects the genitals is very common. As many as 20 million people are thought to have an active HPV infection at any given time, and as ...
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Do rusty nail wounds cause tetanus?
My Mother and aunties always asked with alarm how I got even a minor scratch when I was young. If an injury was caused by anything rusty, I was to be transported immediately to the doctor for a "...
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Do "Studies Show Ginger to be More Powerful than Chemotherapy?"
Recently got this from Facebook:
STUDIES SHOW GINGER IS MORE POWERFUL THAN CHEMOTHERAPY
Cancer is one of the greatest scourges for the humankind today. People are subjected to toxic treatments to try ...
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Is it more harmful to eat sugary food when sick?
If you search junk food when sick there's all sorts of info telling you not to eat it, e.g.
Natural Society: 5 Foods NOT to Eat While Sick or Battling a Cold
5 Foods NOT to Eat While Sick or Battling ...
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Do fingerprint scanners cause skin cancer?
Recently, my company started using fingerprint scanners to identify employees for access control and for attendance. Many employees have a concern about developing skin cancer from the IR fingerprint ...
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Is red meat responsible for one in ten early deaths?
The red meat and cancer link has already been addressed here: Does eating meat increase your risk for cancer? But recent reports suggest a broader more worrying relationship to variety of other ...
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Does exercise make you healthier?
It is widely believed that regular exercise helps people become fitter, stronger and healthier. For example, from Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans:
Regular physical activity is one of the ...
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Is there any correlation between temperature and illness? [closed]
How many times did you hear your mother tell you, "Put on a jacket or you're going to catch a cold!" or "Come in out of the rain before you catch cold!"
It's also a fairly common trope in Jane Austen-...
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Is it dangerous to use wooden cutlery and cutting boards with raw meat?
I have heard multiple times that "one should never cut raw meat on a wooden cutting board nor mix it using a wooden spoon."
The reason most often cited is that apparently bacteria can survive in the ...
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Can eating too much fibre cause Hemorrhoidal disease (or piles)?
I read this highly informative article from Gut Sense on the causes of hemorrhoids commonly known as piles. The article argues convincingly that eating too much dietary fibre can cause Hemorrhoidal ...
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Does the BRAT diet help stop diarrhea?
The BRAT diet is Bananas, Rice, Apples and Toast.
Some sites like this first one add Yogurt.
http://www.mademan.com/mm/5-foods-stop-diarrhea.html
In this wikiHow, the A is applesauce and the ...
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Does Aloe Vera cure diseases? [closed]
Many sites claim that Aloe Vera can cure diseases and sicknesses such as Arthritis and prevent diseases such as cancer. Is there any scientific merit at all to all those claims?
Example sites:
...
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Have chronic conditions such as heart disease, prostate cancer, infertility ever been linked to everyday exposures to chemicals in food?
Claim: http://www.ewg.org/research/mens-health
"There has been significant research in recent decades showing that chronic conditions such as heart disease, prostate cancer, infertility may be linked ...
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Do cleaning agents in the gym stop the spread of disease?
My gym (like almost every other gym) has specific instructions that people must wipe down equipment after using it. This is in addition to the regular (daily) cleaning done by the staff.
The gym ...
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Are sharks immune to almost all known diseases?
According to Did You Know.org:
Sharks are the only animals that almost never get sick: they are immune to almost every known disease.
Is this true or is it a myth?
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Do students on paediatrics rotations get sick a lot?
From http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=605542:
3rd years get sick on peds alot.
Peds or EM during the winter months pretty much maximizes your odds of getting something.
Do students ...
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Have fleas caused more human deaths from plague than wars?
In Amateur Entomologists' Society, it is stated that:
But the most serious flea borne disease is Yersinia pestis, or plague (known in the Middle Ages as the Black Death). This is a disease of rats ...
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Can boneset cure dengue fever?
From livestrong:
Homeopathic Remedy
Boneset is also available as a homeopathic remedy under its Latin name, Eupatorium perfoliatum. In his book "Materia Medica and Repertory," homeopath, Dr. ...
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