Many people still believe that they will catch a cold if they go out in the cold without warm clothing or when they have wet hair or if they go out from a warm room into cold air or if they place themselves in front of a fan while sweating,...

Stillness, meditation, reflection, silence. A journalist used these words to describe precious moments that she witnessed in a school in Twickenham, UK. This school employs a short-time period called The Pause, a quiet time of 10 minutes held at the...

B ad breath (halitosis) can be an embarrassing problem for children as well as adults. Halitosis is an unpleasant odour which comes from the mouth or nose and occurs when exhaled air contains more than 75 parts per billion of odorous sulfurous...

Viral warts are caused by the human papillomavirus and are very common particularly in childhood, occurring in almost 50 per cent of children at some time, but after peaking in adolescence, they tend to become less common. In general, the hands and...

Dear readers, you will be more familiar with me as the weekly author of the paediatric advice section in The Weekender. However, I was asked to write this short article for The Times with regard to salient events over this last year, preferably in a...

Christmas is coming and many have already started stocking up on presents. Toys must be among the most common gifts bought over the festive season. Children play, and play is not risk-free but carers can control most of the hazards children are...

Influenza (“the flu”) is caused by the influenza virus (actually a group of viruses), which infects the respiratory tract, that is, the nose, throat and lungs. Unlike many other viral respiratory infections, such as the common cold, the flu may also...

As discussed last week, hepatitis A is an acute and usually self-limiting disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus. This virus is transmitted from person to person, primarily by the feco-oral route i.e. personal contact with an infected...

The liver is an extremely important organ with a vast variety of bodily functions. In brief, it removes toxins that are fat soluble (water soluble toxins are excreted in the urine), regulates blood composition including glucose levels, and produces...

Urine is liquid waste product of the body. It is produced by the kidneys by a complex and ingenious process of filtration of water from blood along with a concentration of waste products. These wastes are produced by metabolic processes and are high...