Diseases & Conditions Archive

Cellulitis, a skin infection that often occurs on the lower leg, develops when bacteria enter the body through a cut, bite, or other wound. A new study shows key aspects of healing typically occur within 10 days of treatment, but symptoms can linger for some time after that.

Virtually everyone carries the bacteria Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff. But half a million Americans a year develop a serious C. diff infection due to a gut microbiome imbalance. It disproportionately strikes people in hospitals and nursing homes, and can recur repeatedly.

According to a 2023 study, people who consumed 25% or more of their daily calories from added sugars had an 88% higher risk of developing kidney stones compared with those who kept their added sugar intake to less than 5% of their daily calories.

Some doctors feel it's unlikely that editing people's genes will help prevent them from getting Alzheimer's disease. It's not just because attempts to edit genes inside the cells of living animals are in their infancy. It's also because most cases of Alzheimer's disease occur in older adults, and those cases do not appear to be caused just by a few defective genes. Lifestyle—particularly exercise, diet, and the amount of high-quality sleep—affects the risk of developing Alzheimer's at least as much as genes.

White spots on fingernails are common and have many possible causes. These include minor trauma to the fingers, wearing nail polish for prolonged periods, fungal infections, low iron levels, kidney disease, or liver cirrhosis.

Approximately 88 million Americans—more than one in three—have prediabetes, a condition in which the average amount of sugar in the blood (glucose) is high but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Among people who develop prediabetes, older ones are less likely than younger ones to eventually develop full-blown diabetes. Still, they should have their glucose levels checked, as prediabetes can put them at high risk for heart attack and stroke.