Common Cold

Bringing sniffles and sneezes and perhaps a sore throat and annoying cough, the common cold catches all of us from time to time. With kids getting as many as eight colds per year or more, this contagious viral infection of the upper respiratory tract is the most common infectious disease in the United States and the No. 1 reason kids visit the doctor and stay home from school. Causes Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses that are in invisible

Read More

Appendicitis

Appendicitis requires immediate medical attention so it's important to learn its symptoms — and how they differ from a run-of-the-mill stomachache — so you can seek medical care right away. The symptoms of appendicitis (which is inflammation of the appendix) start with a mild fever and pain around the bellybutton, and can be accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. The stomach pain usually worsens and moves to the lower right side of

Read More

Cataracts

Jake likes to visit his Grandma Fran on his way home from school. She always has special treats for him like his favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies, and she takes time to help him with his homework. Lately, though, Jake's noticed that Grandma Fran has trouble reading some of his assignments. When Jake asked her if anything was wrong, Grandma Fran explained that she has cataracts - her glasses used to help, but now she needs to have an ope

Read More

Parkinson's Disease

What Is Parkinson's Disease? You may have seen the actor Michael J. Fox on TV talking about Parkinson's disease. He has Parkinson's disease and has founded an organization to educate people about it and help find a cure. Mostly adults - like Fox and boxer Muhammad Ali - get Parkinson's disease, which is a disorder of the central nervous system. The central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, controls everything you do, includin

Read More

Lou Gehrig's Disease

Lou Gehrig's disease is a disorder that's also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (say: ah-my-uh-tro-fik lah-tuh-rul skluh-ro-sis), or ALS. The official name comes from these Greek words: "a" for without"myo" for muscle"trophic" for nourishment"lateral" for side (of the spinal cord)"sclerosis" for hardening or scarring So, amyotrophic means that the muscles have lost their nourishment. When this happens, they become smaller and weaker. Later

Read More

Alzheimer

Forgetting stuff is a part of life and it often becomes more common as people age. But Alzheimer (say: alts-hi-mer) disease, which affects some older people, is different from everyday forgetting. It is a condition that permanently affects the brain, and over time, makes it harder to remember even basic stuff, like how to tie a shoe. Eventually, the person may have trouble remembering the names and faces of family members - or even who he or s

Read More

Meningitis

What Is Meningitis? The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) is surrounded by cerebrospinal (say: suh-ree-bro-spy-nul) fluid. This fluid acts to cushion and protect the central nervous system when you move around. Even more protection is given by the meninges (say: muh-nin-jeez), which are the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis (say: men-un-jye-tus) is a disease involving inflammation (swelling), or irritation

Read More

Impetigo

If you have a cut or scrape or if you scratch your skin because of a bug bite, eczema, or poison ivy, germs may find a way to get inside. Once inside, the bacteria cause small blisters to develop on the skin. These blisters burst and ooze fluid that crusts over, a condition called impetigo. Sometimes impetigo is called "school sores" because so many school-age kids get it. Kids seem to get it more than adults do, but impetigo can affect anyone.

Read More

Osgood-Schlatter

Osgood-Schlatter (say: oz-good shlaw-ter) disease is one of the most common causes of knee pain in kids who play sports. Usually only one knee is affected, but both can be. There may be a slightly swollen, warm, and tender bony bump at the top of the lower leg, about 2 inches below the kneecap. The bump hurts when pressed. It also hurts when a kid kneels, jumps, runs, squats, or does anything that bends or fully extends the leg. Just what cause

Read More

Stroke

A stroke can happen if something keeps the blood from flowing as it should. A person might have a clogged blood vessel, so the blood can't get through. Or a blood vessel may burst and a part of the brain is suddenly flooded with blood. Either way, with a stroke, brain cells die because they don't get the oxygen they need. There are two main types of strokes: Ischemic (say: iss-kee-mik) strokes happen when a blood vessel going to the brain bec

Read More

Drinking Water

How Important Is Water?Without water, your body would stop working properly. Water makes up more than half of your body weight and a person can't survive for more than a few days without it. Why? Your body has lots of important jobs and it needs water to do many of them. For instance, your blood, which contains a lot of water, carries oxygen to all the cells of your body. Without oxygen, those tiny cells would die and your body would stop workin

Read More

E.Coli

E. coli is a common type of bacteria that can get into food, like beef and vegetables. E. coli is short for the medical term Escherichia coli. The strange thing about these bacteria — and lots of other bacteria — is that they're not always harmful to you. E. coli normally lives inside your intestines, where it helps your body break down and digest the food you eat. Unfortunately, certain types (called strains) of E. coli can get from the intest

Read More

Autism

What Does Autism Mean? Autism (say: aw-tih-zum) causes kids to experience the world differently from the way most other kids do. It's hard for kids with autism to talk with other people and express themselves using words. Kids who have autism usually keep to themselves and many can't communicate without special help. They also may react to what's going on around them in unusual ways. Normal sounds may really bother someone with autism — so muc

Read More

Coma

What do you think about when you hear the word coma (say: ko-muh)? Does it make you think of someone in a deep sleep, or the way you feel after eating too much Thanksgiving turkey? Does the word remind you of a TV soap opera, where it seems that at least one character is always in a coma? A coma can be difficult to understand, especially because people sometimes jokingly use the words coma and comatose (say: ko-muh-tohss), which means in a coma

Read More