Disease

The story of a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting a flesh-eating disease has prompted a microbiologist with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System to speak out about the infection. Aimee Copeland lost most of her left leg after the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing faciitis is believed to have entered a cut on her leg, according to the Associated Press, which reports she may also have to have her fingers amputated. The waterborne bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is believed to have caused the infection.

Air quality will be poor in Baltimore on Sunday, according to state officials. Higher than normal air pollution concentrations could threaten sensitive groups like children, the elderly and people with asthma, heart disease or lung disease. People who may fall into these categories should avoid strenous activity or exercise outdoors. Late Saturday, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued Sunday's code orange air quality alert for the Baltimore metro region. More information about the alert can be found on the Department of the Enviornment's website or by calling the Maryland Air Quality Hotline at 410-537-3247.

North County High School freshman Jack Andraka stood on the auditorium stage, speaking about the invention that earned him the $75,000 grand prize at the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Behind him stood Dr. Anirban Maitra, a professor in the Johns Hopkins University's department of pathology who gave Jack use of his lab to craft his invention, a cheap and effective "dipstick-sensor" method of testing blood or urine to identify early-stage pancreatic cancer and other diseases.

As if robocalls didn't have a bad enough reputation in the world of Baltimore media and politics thanks to consultant Julius Henson's activity in the last gubernatorial election, along comes WBFF (Channel 45) Monday night with its own questionable computer-generated calls into hundreds of thousands on Maryland homes. And the calls continued Tuesday. I received one at my home in Baltimore City both days. Racquel Guillory, director of communications for Gov. Martin O'Malley, also received one at home in Howard County Monday night around dinnertime.

It was a few days after Christmas when 16-year-old Amanda Custer and her mom made a rare stop for a takeout burger. The indulgence ended badly for Amanda. Soon after, she said, "I felt real nauseous. Food was, like, gross. I got really bad cramps, a whole bunch of heartburn and an upset stomach. " And it didn't go away. "I would feel OK and try to eat something, and then I'd regret it," she recalled. "The pain afterwards was horrible. A couple of hours after I ate, I'd be going to the bathroom, feeling nauseous.

D id hundreds of patients at St. Joseph Medical Center get heart stents when they weren't called for under accepted medical standards? That's a disturbing question. But for taxpayers, insurers and most medical consumers, it pales next to this one: Are millions of patients getting stents that are unnecessary even when the rules give doctors a green light? Accumulating evidence says the answer is yes. "In many instances we're seeing it overused and in some instances abused," says Dr. William E. Boden, a professor at the University at Buffalo Schools of Medicine & Public Health who led a major study on stent effectiveness.

My mother's life has not been an easy one. At the age of 42, she was widowed with four teenage children after my father died suddenly. She worked three jobs so we could get to where we are today. Her life was not glamorous. She scrubbed other people's floors and waited tables. To me, she looked beautiful, despite of, or maybe because of, the strength I saw in her sweaty brow and bucket of cleaning supplies. She volunteered at my elementary school and taught our class about art. She was my Girl Scout leader.

Writer Dudley Clendinen is a gifted raconteur, weaving his stories in a soft Southern accent and with a courtly manner. It is easy to imagine him captivating dinner guests until long after the candles have burned down. It is a savage irony, then, that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is taking his voice first when it might have chosen his limbs instead. It was slurred speech that gave Clendinen, 66, the first hint of trouble. A former national reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times who also worked for The Baltimore Sun, he had settled here to write books and teach.

Baltimore police are investigating how an 18-month-old girl contracted gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease, and are trying to determine whether a family acquaintance is responsible, according to a department spokesman. No criminal charges have been filed. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives are focusing on a suspect based on statements from the infant's parents. "We are working as fast as we can with the Baltimore Child Abuse Center," Guglielmi said. He said the baby could undergo a test today to determine if she was raped.

Washington. -- At Barnes Hospital in St. Louis in 1919 a docto summoned some medical students to an autopsy, saying the patient's disease was so rare that most of the students would never see it again. It was lung cancer.That story, from John A. Meyer's article ''Cigarette Century'' in the December American Heritage, illuminates like a lightning flash this fact: Much -- probably most -- of America's hideously costly health-care crisis is caused by unwise behavior associated with eating, drinking, driving, sex, alcohol, drugs, violence and, especially, smoking.

If you suffer from pain in the legs, sores on the feet or burning sensations in the toes you may have a condition called  Peripheral Vascular Disease. The condition affects about 10 million people in the United States. Johns Hopkins doctors will offer free screenings for the disease 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Towson Town Center Mall. The screenings will take place in the Grand Court on level 1.   Untreated PVD can cause debilitating pain, swelling, poor wound healing, heart attack or even stroke.  Dr. Mark Lessne , Johns Hopkins Vascular and Interventional Radiologist, will be on hand to answers questions about the disease.

Anne Arundel County eighth-grader Victoria Marinzel is not one for the spotlight. After Gov. Martin O'Malley surprised her at a school assembly Monday with a Compassionate Marylander Award and a Governor's Citation, he asked the Central Middle School student to say a few words, and she decided that two would do. "Thank you. " Those who know Victoria said she prefers to let her actions speak for her. They say it's no surprise that she would...

Kathy Brown wasn't always much of a chef - but she was an educator. When Brown, the former head of Grace Christian School, was diagnosed with amyloidosis of the heart in April 2008, she began experimenting with recipes to suit her new low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar diet. Compelled to share what she'd learned, Brown started compiling a heart-friendly cookbook for other patients. While Brown later received a successful heart transplant, the 62-year-old died in December 2010 before she could finish the book.

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of Harford and Cecil Counties, The William E. Proudford Sickle Cell Fund, IHomes and Maryland Sickle Cell Disease Association hosted a Legislative Day in Annapolis on Feb. 1. Representing the Harford/Cecil County Sickle Cell Association were Betty Johnson, Denise Williams, Rudy Williams and Bobby Parker. Karen Proudford, President of the William E. Proudford Sickle Cell Fund, Inc., was the event organizer. The purpose of the day in Annapolis was to educate legislators about the disease and to solicit their support for resources for adults living with sickle cell disease.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a few good men and women to volunteer for a battle it's waging at home — against disease. Actually, more than a few are needed. Officials overseeing health care for the nation's veterans are undertaking what may be the largest effort of its kind in the nation, to collect medical records and blood samples from a million former service members for a bank of genetic information. The idea is to give researchers enough DNA and other data to link specific genes to mental and physical maladies, from post-traumatic stress disorder to heart disease, and eventually develop new preventive measures or treatments.

Towson Town Center is hosting National Wear Red Day on Friday, Feb. 3, in conjunction with Go Red For Women, a program of the American Heart Association. The event is designed to increase awareness of the threat to women of heart disease and heart attacks. Shoppers are encouraged to wear red to Towson Town Center on Friday. During the day, they can also visit the Grand Court on level 1 between noon and 6 p.m. and have their picture taken, while explaining why they decided to "Go Red. " For each photo taken, Towson Town Center will donate $1 to Go Red for Women, up to $5,000.

Police have arrested the 22-year-old live-in boyfriend of a woman whose 7-year-old daughter contracted a sexually transmitted disease, charging him with second-degree rape. The suspect, a West Baltimore man who is not being identified to protect the privacy of the victim, was arrested Tuesday after giving an account of the incident to detectives in the Police Department's child abuse unit. The girl was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center on May 11 and was found to have gonorrhea.

Peggy and Tom Hart's second son was born on a humid July day in 1988 in a routine birth at a Towson hospital.The Bel Air couple took home their healthy 9 1/2 -pound infant, looking forward to all the joys they had experienced with their first son, Sean, who was 4.Baby Patrick smiled, cooed and developed normally until March 1989 when he was suddenly stricken by spasms and seizures.The 8-month-old was soon diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a little-understood genetic disease, that eventually ravaged his body with tumors.

Johns Hopkins researchers, in the largest study to date, will map the genetic code for asthma in people of African descent in hopes of better understanding why the disease and other allergy-related ailments disproportionately afflict that population. Until now, the link between genetics and asthma has been studied using mostly men and women of white European descent. The Hopkins researchers announced Thursday that they will leverage data from other genome projects to take the first wide-scale look at how hereditary factors affect African-Americans who have the disease, which causes wheezing and difficulty breathing, and which can lead to death if not treated.

Oh, what a night! Late December in 1963. What a very special time for me - I married the love of my life, John Mackey . My husband played for nine seasons with the Baltimore Colts. In the years following his retirement from the NFL, I noticed unusual changes in his behavior. My first reaction was to go through various stages of denial, because I didn't know what else to do. But finally I couldn't kid myself anymore. Many doctors' visits later, and nearly 30 years after John played his last NFL game, John was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia, which meant that he had severe shrinkage of the left frontal lobe of his brain.