Does Mouth-Breathing Decrease Risk of Viral Infections?

Image by Magnus Mertens in Wikipedia The New York Times published an article looking into this very question on Nov 11, 2016. However, the provided answer ("possibly") was incomplete. In essence, the question of whether mouth-breathing decreases risk of viral infections is based on the idea that contagious viruses spread via the nose by inhaling coughed/sneezed out water droplets infected with viral contagions. Unfortunately, such viruses can also be spread if such droplets …

11/16/2016 0

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Recurrent Infections of the Ear, Sinus May be Due to Immunodeficiency

Image Courtesy of marcolm at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Your immune system is what helps to fight off infections. But if the immune system is deficient in some way, a child or adult may experience recurrent infections. When it comes to ENT, such repeated infections may only involve the ear / sinus , or manifest itself as frequent URI. What are some key questions that may prompt an investigation for an immunodeficiency, especially if surgical management fails to resolve? • Need more than fo…

1/18/2015 0

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Swimming Pools, Poop, and Ear Infections

So here's an interesting statistic... The average person has 0.14 grams of feces on their rear end. If a person does not shower prior to swimming, that 0.14 grams of stool gets washed off into the swimming pool. Kids tend to have a bit more stool on their rear end (up to 10 grams). See references below. That means if 100 individuals enter the swimming pool in any given day without showering beforehand, anywhere from 14 grams to 1 kilogram of stool enter the swimming pool water (0.03 - 2…

7/19/2013 1

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Does Acupuncture Help With Allergies?

Image from Acupuncture For All According to one study , it does... Performed by researchers in China and Korea, they divided 238 patients suffering from allergies into 3 groups: active acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and no treatment. They found that acupuncture, even if it was sham, did help significantly with nasal allergies. However, only active acupuncture helped with not just nasal allergies but also allergy symptoms beyond the nose! Of course, when considering all the other researc…

2/09/2013 0

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Smoker's Kids Have More Ear Infections

Although not entirely new news... a new review paper which collated the results of 61 past studies has reaffirmed that smoking around kids increases their risk of ear infections  dramatically. Just how much? Kids living with a smoker had a: 37 percent higher risk of ear infections and hearing problems 62 percent higher risk of ear problems if the household smoker was their mom 86 percent more likely to undergo ear surgery than kids without secondhand smoke exposure Read a MSNBC…

9/09/2011 0

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Novel Treatment for Glue Ear?

Glue ear is the layman's term for thick mucoid effusion of the middle ear, usually due to chronic ear infections . The fluid itself is like maple syrup and usually treated with  ear tube placement followed by suctioning as much of the fluid out as possible. However, given there is always some residual present, antibiotic ear drops with steroids is often prescribed. Unfortunately, these patients are at higher risk of requiring repeated sets of tubes after the body spits them out. W…

8/04/2011 0

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