What is prostatitis and how is it treated?

Prostatitis, or inflammation of the prostate, is more common than you might think — it accounts for roughly two million doctor visits every year. The troubling symptoms include burning or painful urination, an urgent need to go (especially at night), painful ejaculations, and also pain in the lower back and perineum (the space between the […]

5 mins read

Measles is making a comeback: Can we stop it?

Has the recent news about measles outbreaks in the US surprised you? Didn’t it seem like we were done with measles? In the US, widespread vaccination halted the ongoing spread of measles more than 20 years ago, a major public health achievement. Before an effective vaccine was developed in the 1960s, nearly every child in […]

8 mins read

Can a routine vaccine prevent dementia?

It’s fairly common for a medical treatment to cause side effects: think headache, upset stomach, sleepiness, and occasionally more severe side effects. Far more rarely, a side effect provides an unexpected benefit. This might be the case for the shingles vaccine. Shingles is a painful, blistering skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus responsible […]

7 mins read