What is the Normal Body Temperature? The Fact and Alternative Fact

1800s Wunderlich Thermometer (the thermometer is over 12 inches long) If you said 98.6°F, you are wrong... Of course you are just parroting back what you were told by your teachers, family, friends, colleagues... well pretty much everybody since 1871. That year, Dr. Carl Wunderlich at Leipzig University in Germany published a book called " On the Temperature in Diseases: A Manual of Medical Thermometry ." Dr. Wunderlich took the temperatures of over 25,000 patients under his ca…

1/28/2017 0

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Periodic Fevers in a Child - PFAPA

Fever in a child is not uncommon. After all, they get a lot of infections whether it be ear infections , tonsillitis , viral syndromes , etc. However, what can be particularly vexing and confusing for both physicians and families is a child who keeps getting recurring fevers every few weeks out of nowhere for seemingly no reason and no obvious infectious source. The typical scenario is a child with abrupt onset of fevers to ~102 degrees F or higher that lasts 3-7 days and just as inexpli…

10/16/2012 0

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Washington Post Medical Mystery: Kawasaki Disease

The Washington Post on Sept 8, 2009 published a story called " A Frightful Week for a Little Girl " in its Medical Mystery section on Kawasaki Disease. This disease is rare and difficult to diagnose given its multitude of symptoms that can be due to something more benign including: • red eyes • fever • rash • neck mass • red lips/mouth However, it is the constellation of symptoms according to guidelines that Kawasaki in children should be considered when there has been an une…

9/10/2009 0

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Stress Can INCREASE a Person's Allergies!

Researchers at Ohio State University recently published an article in the June 2009 journal Psychoneuroendocrinology titled " How stress and anxiety can alter immediate and late phase skin test responses in allergic rhinitis ." What they found was that allergic responses to a skin prick increased after a stressful event compared to a non-stressful event. Anxiety also substantially enhanced the effects of stress far into the future as even skin tests performed the day after the stre…

8/17/2009 0

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