The anti-vaccine movement, which has been born out of fraudulent research and unethical behaviour by Andrew Wakefield, has led to the reemergence of numerous infectious diseases that had previously been controlled and nearly eradicated by vaccines. Contrary to the claims of many conspiracy theorists and ‘Facebook trained doctors’ vaccines do not cause autism and are…
Acute gastroenteritis, commonly called the stomach flu, affects millions of children in the US every year causing diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Gastroenteritis is usually caused by viruses, although not the flu virus contrary to popular thought, and it can last up to two weeks. No treatment is currently available for kids with stomach bugs…
Air pollution is a significant problem for global health, especially in low- to middle-income countries where air quality is not up to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Exposure to air pollution worsens existing disease and can increase a person’s risk of dying from lung cancer, lung infections, stroke, heart disease, and COPD. Among children,…
Scoliosis is a condition in which a person’s spine curves sideways, sometimes resembling an ‘S’ or ‘C’. It is the most common childhood musculoskeletal disorder affecting around 0.3% of all children. While mild cases can often be treated or corrected with a back brace, severe cases require surgical correction and affect 1 in every 10,000…
Exposure to air pollution has been linked to worsening of asthma and COPD symptoms, heart attack, and hypertension. Air pollution is a complex mixture of gases and particulate matter that can range in size from 2.5 microns to 10 microns, or between 7-30 times smaller than the width of a human hair. These particles can…
Approximately 17% of children in the US are considered obese, which shockingly includes around 8% of children under the age of 5. Obesity at such an early age can put children at risk for life long illnesses including: type-2 diabetes, asthma, hypertension, sleep apnea, and liver disease. Mirroring the rates of obesity in the US,…
Smokers have a higher risk for asthma and children exposed to cigarette smoke at home are at a higher risk of having or developing asthma. Mothers who have a child with asthma eventually may quit smoking in order to prevent their children from having asthma attacks that require hospitalization. What we don’t know is if…
Asthma is a disease that makes breathing difficult for 2.4 million Canadians. It is caused by excessive inflammation and abnormally thick airway walls. There are numerous known risk factors for asthma including genetics but much is still unknown about the development of the disease. Asthma is part of the atopic march, a phenomenon that often…
Obesity is a problem that continues to grow out of hand with more than 29% of Canadians and over 32% of Americans being classified as obese. Far from being just a problem of weight, obesity can put someone at risk for numerous other conditions including: heart disease, type-2 diabetes, stroke, cancer, depression, hypertension, and more.…
Autism is a complex disorder with numerous suspected causes that include genetic abnormalities, exposure to certain prescription drugs during pregnancy, a children born to older parents. At the heart of it autism is considered to be a problem of abnormal brain development that may result in an inability to prune unnecessary neurons from the brain.…
