"An Elaborate Fraud" — MMR Vaccine/Autism Connection Finally Debunked

Readers may remember a couple posts I wrote last year discussing the British Medical Journal’s retraction of the famous 1990’s study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. Last May, the same British doctor lost his license, and this month the same journal is publishing a series of investigative articles which highlight how that study wasn’t simply incompetent but actually was an “elaborate fraud”, with data altered to fit the erroneous findings.… Read the rest

Diabetes — Do You Have It And Not Know It?

How many of you have ever been told by a doctor that you have pre-diabetes? Even more worrisome, how many readers have diabetes but don’t know it?

This is not a rare problem at all; it’s estimated that all over the world , maybe 1/3 of people with diabetes are walking around unaware of their disease diagnosis — mostly because they don’t get annual screening tests from a local clinic.… Read the rest

“Not All Bugs Need Drugs” — AKA Antibiotic Overuse…

Here’s another pop quiz: Which scenario below requires antibiotics?

  • A fever for 3 days
  • Cough that turns wet
  • A cough that “gets deeper into my chest”
  • Runny nose that turns yellow

The oversimplified answer is “none of the above“, at least not without having a doctor check you out first, to decide whether it’s a virus or a bacteria.… Read the rest

A board-certified family doctor since 2001.