whys

If you’ve ever had a cut that seems to ooze “white stuff” or have noticed a white pimple on your face, then you’ve seen pus. Pus may be disgusting to look at, but it is actually a sign of your body’s ability to fight infections. Pus means your white blood cells are attacking infections present on or in your body.

Pus can be white, slightly yellow or green, and is relatively thick, approximately the same as Elmer’s Glue. It’s actually a collection of dead skin cells, white blood cells called neutrophils, and some bacteria that is still putting up a fight. It is a visible sign that you have an infection. A minor source of tiny amounts of pus, as in a pimple, merely needs to be washed and cleaned with an antiseptic. Many infections that show pus are derived from staph bacteria, which we all have in some amount on our skin.

With small pimples, it is sufficient to use hot compresses, so that the pus drains. After a daily compress treatment, you should always be sure to use an antiseptic on the pimple. Further, wash your hands after dealing with pus in pimples, because it can still contain live bacteria which can be spread to those around you, or infect other areas of your skin. It’s usually fine to ignore small pimples until they go away. Your body is battling to fight off this small infection, and often wins this battle.

Pus coming from a wound, or a pimple that gets larger and larger, especially if it is above the cheekbone and below the forehead, suggests the body may need a little extra help fighting the infection. In these cases, a wait and see approach to pus is definitely not recommended. Untreated infections that the body can’t fight can lead to staph infections in the blood, which can be extremely serious.

If you have a great deal of pus coming from a wound, and the wound feels hard, hot, or has red streaks, these are the early signs of an infection called cellulitis, and you should see a doctor right away. Normally, a simple course of antibiotics will clear up the pus and the infection and will promote wound healing. Waiting can mean delaying healing and risking your overall health.

Pus can also be a source of infection to others, especially when there is a lot of it. If you are helping others treat an infected wound, or treating your own, you definitely want to observe excellent handwashing techniques each time you touch the wound. If you’re caring for someone else and have an infected wound, you want to keep this completely covered with bandages so as not to infect others. Young children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to staph infections.

Often, our body makes pus that we never see. For example, doctors often diagnose ear infections by noting pus in the ear canal. Organs can also be filled with pus, signalling serious infections. Sometimes a person might notice a thick yellowish or whitish fluid while urinating, suggesting a bladder infection which should be checked out by a doctor.

As ironic as it may seem, however, a small amount of pus, particularly in a pimple, is a sign of good health. People who don’t produce enough neutrophils also don’t produce enough pus, and can have a terrible time fighting off infections. In people with healthy immune systems, a simple pus filled pimple suggests your body is working as it should.

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A virus is a particle of infectious material. Viruses are incredibly small and are only visible with extremely strong microscopes. When visualizing the size of a virus, some people use the analogy of a human standing next to Mount Everest, with the human being the virus and the mountain being a flea. Many people are familiar with viruses because they cause disease as part of their life cycle. Scientists who study viruses are known as virologists; virologists attempt to identify and isolate viruses in the hopes of being able to treat them or vaccinate against them.

The existence of viruses began to be hypothesized as early as the 1800s, although scientists did not positively identify them until the 1900s. The word is taken from the Latin virus, which refers to a toxin or a poison. Some well known examples of viruses are Ebola, AIDS, influenza, and Marburg. Many of these viruses are famous for their virulence and they are notoriously difficult to treat since they mutate rapidly and very effectively.

The particles consist solely of a protein covering which encapsulates genetic material. Viruses are incapable of reproducing or living on their own; they require hosts to survive and pass on their genes. As a result, many scientists are reluctant to classify viruses as living organisms. The deceptively simple particles also behave very differently from other forms of life, making them difficult to classify.

When a virus enters a host, it latches on to a cell in the host’s body. The cell is essentially hijacked and forced to reproduce the genetic material of the virus. In some cases, the virus may remain latent, but when it is stimulated, the cell will burst open, flooding the host’s body with many copies of the virus which can go on to colonize other cells. The original host cell dies, which can be a serious problem for one celled organisms like bacteria; a virus which preys on bacteria is called a bacteriophage.

Treating viruses is extremely difficult. Since they are not alive, drugs like antibiotics are not effective. Antiviral drugs usually focus on attacking the proteins in the virus, in the hopes of crippling it so that it cannot continue colonizing the host. The best cure for a virus is actually a vaccine, because vaccines will prevent colonization in the first place, by teaching the cells of the host to attack viral particles.

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As you might guess, oil of oregano is an essential oil squeezed out of the leaves of oregano, an herb. Oil of oregano was long held as a home remedy for everything from athlete’s foot to the flu. Recently, health researchers have conducted some studies that show this extract to indeed have antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, and anti-inflammatory properties. More research may prove this simple oil an organic combatant to fight common infections like E. coli and salmonella.

Since oil of oregano has been heralded as a natural, homeopathic curative supplement, it’s usually derived by organic means. The leaves of the herb are gathered from wild oregano, Origanum vulgare. It grows well in Mediterranean climates like Greece, and gets especially potent during the blooming season. Then the oil is pressed by crushing the leaves, rather than using solvents in the process.

Pure oil of oregano of various strengths gets bottled so the consumer can sprinkle a few drops on their pizza, spaghetti, or other foods that benefit from the spicy taste. Depending on the concentration, the recommended dosage is around a few drops several times a day for maximum benefit. It contains many vitamins and minerals, such as magnesium, zinc, iron, calcium, manganese, copper, potassium, niacin, and beta-carotene, an important antioxidant.

The active ingredients of this herbal oil are carvacrol and thymol. Those who study oil of oregano’s efficacy in boosting immunity assume that these are the chemicals responsible for its protection. Both Georgetown University and the University of Tennessee conducted studies that concluded that oil of oregano is a pharmacologically powerful substance. It can be as effective as traditional doses of antibiotics, such as penicillin. Doses of the oil may soon be incorporated into treatments for salmonella, staphylococcus, E. coli, and pseudomonas.

It may seem amazing that a tincture made from a common herb would be able to compete with a strong antibiotic like penicillin. This is predominantly due to drug resistance. When microbes are routinely exposed to the same medicines, they begin to evolve ways to make them more immune to what they consider an enemy. Over time, especially with the abundance of antibiotic prescriptions, the germs can’t be wiped out by normal doses. However, they do not develop drug resistance to nondrugs, such as oil of oregano.

As far back as Ancient Greece, people were using the crushed leaves of oregano to keep food from spoiling, ease itchy rashes, treat coughs, and bring down the swelling of a toothache. The Greeks even named the herb “oreganos,” meaning it’s a delight of the mountains, because it was so tasty and beneficial. The medical community is on its way to validate their unsubstantiated beliefs.

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Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI), caused by a single celled parasite which causes inflammation in the genital and urinary tracts. Women are more susceptible to trichomoniasis, while men can carry the infection without displaying noticeable symptoms. Like other sexually transmitted infections, the surest way to avoid trichomoniasis is to abstain from sexual activity, but the risk can be greatly reduced by using barrier protection and only engaging in sexual activity with committed partners.

The organism responsible for trichomoniasis is a protozoan known as a trichomonad. When the protozoan colonizes the genital and urinary tracts, it causes an inflammation which can create an itching or burning sensation. Women who are infected with trichomoniasis may experience unpleasant vaginal discharges with a strange smell or foamy appearance. In men, infection generally sets in along the urethra, creating an unpleasant sensation during urination. The condition is treated with a course of drugs; typically only one large dose is needed to eliminate the infection.

Women are most vulnerable to trichomoniasis infections during their menstrual periods, although they can potentially be infected at any time. It can take one to three weeks for symptoms to emerge, although women are capable of passing trichomoniasis to other partners before the symptoms appear. Most women first notice the symptoms in the form of uncomfortable urination and sexual activity.

While someone is infected with trichomoniasis, his or her risk of contracting HIV is increased, because the infection irritates the already vulnerable tissue of the genital tract, creating an opportunity for HIV to move in. Trichomoniasis infection has also been linked with low birth weight in infants, so pregnant women who suspect that they have the condition should seek medical treatment.

This sexually transmitted infection is also known as “trich,” and it is relatively common. Thanks to effective drugs, trichomoniasis is fairly easy to treat, and it appears to have no lingering effects. In the event that someone is diagnosed with trichomoniasis or another STI, it is considered polite to contact recent sexual partners to alert them and to suggest that they receive treatment. Some public health departments may offer this service for clients who are embarrassed about contacting former partners.

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Viruses are extremely small. While bacteria typically have a size ranging between 0.5 - 5.0 micrometers, viruses are around ten times smaller, with a size range between 10 and 300 nanometers. Viruses cannot survive on their own, and depend upon hijacking the protein synthesis machinery of living cells to reproduce. Because of this, viruses are sometimes not considered true living things, but are rather called “organisms at the edge of life.” The domain name “Acytota” (meaning “without cells”) has been attributed to viruses, but it does not receive wide use. Most scientists do not regard viruses as living.

Viruses are bits of genetic material, like a length of instruction tape, covered in a small protein shell called a capsid. Sometimes viruses have very basic “appendages,” such as filaments or tail fibers, such as in bacteriophages (bacteria-killing viruses), but oftentimes are just a small package. Their morphology may be helical, like a screw, icosahedral, like a geodesic dome, pleomorphic, like a little sponge, or resembling a bizarre spider robot out of science fiction, as in bacteriophages.

Instead of typical organisms, which reproduce via cell division, viruses reproduce as a hyper-exponential rate by infiltrating cells and using their protein synthesis machinery to pump out copies of the virus. In just ten minutes, a virus may take over a cell, copy itself hundreds of times, and kill the cell. Some viruses have a calculated replication time of about 70 seconds. By comparison, the fastest bacterial replicators only double their biomass every 20 minutes or so.

Viruses do not evolve or develop in ways similar to conventional living things. They do mutate and evolve, but some viruses may originate as rogue mobile genetic elements (transposons) from the genomes of bacteria, plants, or animals. This means that viruses may lack a conventional “family tree” that other organisms possess. Because viruses do not fossilize well, studying their past can be very difficult. Examining viruses directly requires an expensive electron microscope.

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There are several ways to relieve chapped lips, and what method you use depends on what is causing the chapping. Sometimes chapped lips are caused by sun or wind damage, in which case, you’ll find some relief by using methods that treat minor sunburns. A little aloe vera gel, which is edible, or a lip balm containing vitamin E and aloe vera can have you on the way to nice smooth lips again. To prevent chapped lips in the future, don’t just use sunscreen on your face when you’re outdoors. Also use a lip balm, lipstick or gloss that has SPF protection in it. Generally you want the highest protection you can find, but at minimum have an SPF of 15, and reapply often.

Sometimes chapped lips can signal that you’re not getting enough water. Slight dehydration can manifest as lip chapping. You may find you can relieve chapped lips permanently by getting an adequate supply of water, at least eight glasses daily.

You may find that increasing your vitamin supply can relieve chapped lips. In particular, chapped lips can be a symptom of mild to major anemia. This may mean your body is not getting enough iron. You may want to use an iron supplement, and you can enhance absorption of iron by getting extra vitamin C in your diet. If you smoke and get chapped lips frequently, mild anemia and vitamin C deficiency is often the primary cause. If you can, quit smoking to reduce chapped lips, and supplement your diet with vitamin C rich foods. Vitamin B can also help reduce chapping, and you can take vitamin E capsules, open them, and apply them directly to sore lips.

If your chapped lips are very red or swollen, you may be harboring a bacterial infection. It can help to use a lip balm with antibiotic, or simply apply an antibiotic ointment to the lips to relieve chapped lips. When this treatment doesn’t resolve the problem within a few days, you should see a doctor, particularly if there are any blisters or sores around the lips. Sometimes staph infections can occur on the lips or around the mouth and may require oral antibiotics to relieve chapped lips and the infection.

When you’re in good health, you may simply want to remember that you can relieve chapped lips or prevent them by getting adequate hydration, using a good sunscreen on your lips, and if you like, using a lip balm a few times a day. This normally prevents most cases of lip chapping and will help keep your lips smooth and happy.

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The next time you get the urge to stifle a sneeze, you might want to rethink it. Though sneezing is unpleasant, people who stifle a sneeze may face some significant health consequences, particularly if the sneeze is violent. One can attempt to avoid a sneeze when feeling that itchy feeling in the nose, without causing harm. Those who stifle a sneeze by closing the mouth and pinching the nose shut, as the sneeze is in progress, can cause themselves harm.

One urban legend is that those who stifle a sneeze risk brain aneurysms. Evidence suggests that this is hard to prove, and if it does ever occur, rate of occurrence is extremely rare. Chances are you will not suffer a brain aneurysm if you stifle a sneeze.

A person who plans to stifle a sneeze is not at risk for popping out his or her eyeballs. This is another urban legend associated with sneezing that really has no veracity. One would have to be able to sneeze with much greater force than is customary.

However, stopping a sneeze in mid-sneeze is dangerous because the energy of the sneeze and fluids associated with the sneeze are attempting to make a rapid exit out of the nostrils. In fact, droplets may travel at a rate of 100 mph (160.92 kph). Quickly closing the nose in an attempt to stifle a sneeze means the fluid can back up into the sinuses and into the ears, particularly the Eustachian tubes, the soft tubes that connect the middle ear to the back of the mouth. This can at minimum increase risk for sinus or ear infections.

Additionally, those who stifle a sneeze, especially a violent one, can risk harming their eardrums. Stopping a sneeze can cause eardrum rupture, bleeding in the ears and significant ear pain. Stifling a series of sneezes could result in detached retina, though this, too, is uncommon.

Though one shouldn’t stifle a sneeze, one should take precautions not to sneeze on others. Naturally, carrying tissue to help stop the progress of contagious droplets is the best choice. If, however, one is without tissue, one can sneeze into one’s inner elbow or upper arm, or directly into one’s hands. This is not the most sanitary, nor the preferred method for keeping other people healthy. However, it is a better option than choosing to stifle the sneeze, or sneezing on everybody else.

Stifling a sneeze can cause damage, but does not always do so. If one accidentally forgets not to stifle, one will likely be just fine. However, since some risk applies to stopping a sneeze, it makes good sense to try to get into the habit of letting fly with a a good “Achoo!”

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In essence, antibiotics are selective poisons used to kill bacterial cells. Antibiotic loosely translates to “against life.” In some senses, all things that kill cells are antibiotic. This includes poisons and toxins. Chemotherapy is antibiotic because it kills cancer cells, and unfortunately some human cells with it. Yet in most definitions, antibiotics are medications we take when we have bacterial infections.

Antibiotics fight infection by either killing bacteria outright, or by inhibiting the growth or development of bacterial cells. The former type is called bactericidal, and the latter, bacteriostatic. The goal of the antibiotic, which can be made of naturally occurring fungi or chemical compounds, is to harm bacterial cells that are making us ill, without harming human cells.

Antibiotics are classed by either how they work or the bacteria against which they are most effective. When bacteria can be killed, the antibiotic disrupting the membrane of bacterial cells normally does this. Antibiotics can also inhibit bacterial growth through keeping bacterial cells from making proteins and acids that they need for survival and reproduction.

In order for antibiotics to be effective, we have to understand the structure of bacterial cells, which fortunately differs significantly from most animal and plant cells. The proteins or enzymes and the DNA structure of bacterial cells are targeted through either natural or chemically produced antibiotics, and at the same time, researchers look for compounds that will select only bacteria for attack and not plant and animal cells. It should be noted that antibiotics only fight infections caused by bacteria. They are completely ineffective against infections caused by viruses or fungi.

Some antibiotics are called broad-spectrum because they can be used to kill or impair many different types of bacteria. Others are narrow-spectrum and only have uses against a few specific types of bacteria. Most common infections, like strep or staph are relatively easy to treat with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Other more antibiotic resistant bacteria may require a narrow-spectrum treatment.

Unfortunately, humans host many types of bacteria, and some types are quite beneficial. Broad-spectrum antibiotics leave human cells alone, but often have an effect on the good bacteria we carry. This can result in complications from taking antibiotics, like getting yeast infections or having diarrhea.

Trends in medicine include verifying that people have a bacterial infection prior to prescribing antibiotics. This method is more widely used since certain bacteria have evolved that are much more resistant to many antibiotics. Infections caused by Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) are exceptionally difficult to treat with regular broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Over time, some strains of staph bacteria have become resistant to treatment by penicillin-based antibiotics — because bacteria, like all life forms, evolves. People with MRSA infections have to take specialized antibiotics, which are much harder on the body, in order to kill MRSA bacteria. Overuse of any type of antibiotics can create antibiotic resistant bacteria that are very difficult to fight. Therefore, physicians try to make sure to only use antibiotics when they are really necessary, in order to slow the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

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Many people know someone who is diabetic who has had a toe, or even a foot or leg amputated. This is the worst-case scenario and points at the critical importance of foot care for a diabetic.

Diabetes affects every system in the body, including the nervous and circulatory systems, and the immune system. Dysfunction in these three systems sets up a catch-22 situation that can have serious consequences. A diabetic may have neuropathy, or nerve death, in the feet. This means his feet are not very sensitive, and he may not notice if he has stepped on something sharp, or has a wound on his foot. Poor circulation means he doesn’t have enough blood to help the wound heal, and if infection sets up in the wound, the suppressed immune system may not be able to fight it off.

Because of these circumstances, a diabetic should take good care of her feet. Those who are married can enlist their spouse’s help in this, but a single person should also make foot care a priority. It starts with the diabetic choosing comfortable, well-fitting shoes. A podiatrist may be able to help with this choice, but the shoes should not pinch or press on the feet. A diabetic should also wear cotton socks or pantyhose with shoes, to minimize friction against the foot. Diabetic women should be very careful about wearing high heels. These can restrict circulation.

The diabetic should check his shoes every day. People can step on tacks, nails, staples, or even gravel, and these can work their way into a shoe, injuring the foot. Any foreign objects should be removed from the shoes. Shoes should also be inspected for pressure marks inside, and if these cannot be eliminated with the use of moleskin or orthotics, the shoes should not be worn.

The diabetic, or her spouse, then need to check her feet. A single person can use a mirror for this job, if necessary. The feet should be closely inspected, even between the toes, for any wounds or redness that may mean a shoe is putting pressure on the foot. Toenails should be kept neatly trimmed, to minimize the risk of ingrown toenails, of tearing a toenail, or scratching oneself on the leg or foot with them.

If the feet are in good shape, the diabetic should then apply a moisturizing lotion to the feet. Spouses or family members can make this into a foot massage, which is also good, since it promotes better circulation.

Any kind of wound should be immediately washed, then treated with antibiotic ointment and a dressing or adhesive bandage applied. The wound should be checked every day until it has healed. If it does not heal, or gets worse, the diabetic should see his doctor. Some wounds require surgical intervention, and the diabetic may need to take antibiotics and stay off the foot until the wound has healed.

In many cases, preventative foot care for diabetics can help them avoid amputation and its attendant risks. For a diabetic, good foot care is vital to good quality of life.

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Infections are the result of the body’s inability to fight off foreign microorganisms that may cause damage or disease if left untreated. Infections can be viral or bacterial in nature and might be caused by a fungus or parasite. There are many common infections and some very rare ones, all with varying causes and treatments.

Some common bacterial infections include strep throat, tuberculosis, urinary tract infections, and E. coli. The different types of bacterial infections are caused by many different types of bacteria. Bacterial infections are generally treated with an antibiotic specifically chosen to destroy the infectious bacteria. Some bacterial infections, like strep throat, are internal, while others are external, such as impetigo, a common bacterial skin infection. Oral antibiotics are generally effective at treating both types of infections, and skin infections can often be treated with topical antibiotics.

Viral infections are different than bacterial infections in that they are caused by viruses, which are smaller than a bacterium or fungus. When a virus infects healthy cells, it prevents the cells from doing their job and causes sickness. Viruses usually infect a specific type of cell, which causes viral infections to affect certain parts of the body. A cold is the most common viral infection and generally affects the upper respiratory tract. Influenza is another common viral infection, but symptoms can affect the entire body.

Antibiotics are not effective against viral infections, but in some cases, an antiviral drug may be used to stop the virus from reproducing. Most viral infections must run a natural course and be fought off by the body, but in some cases, bacterial infections occur secondary to viral infections, and so an antibiotic is used.

Fungus is also a common cause of infections, including ringworm, Athlete’s foot, fungal nail infections, and vaginal yeast infections. Fungal infections are caused by fungus that has either been transmitted through contact or has grown as a result of certain conditions of the body. Fungal infections are treated with anti-fungal medication that may be applied as a cream or taken orally.

There are many different causes of infections and different ways of spreading them. It is not possible to prevent all infections, even with a healthy immune system, but the risk for viral infections can be drastically reduced. Frequent hand washing and basic hygienic practices, such as not drinking or eating after someone, covering your mouth when you cough, and using tissues when you sneeze, are all ways to reduce the spread of viral infections.

Signs and symptoms of infections include fever, localized redness or swelling, painful swallowing, and pain in a specific part of the body, such as the throat, ear, or kidney area. If you have an unexplained fever that persists for more than 48 hours, cannot be relieved by common over the counter medications, or rises above 104°F (40°C), you should see a doctor as soon as possible. Only your physician can determine whether you have an infection and how it should be treated.

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