Colon cancer is in the news these days. A few weeks ago Chadwick Boseman passed away in his early 40's of metastatic colon cancer. In one fell swoop, his tragic passing highlighted three traits of colon cancer: 1) Colon cancer is increasing in younger Americans aged 20-50. 2) Black Americans are [Read More]
Austin Gastroenterology
Toxic Algae Symptoms
Toxic blue-green Algae has been infesting Lady Bird Lake in Austin as well as lakes and rivers around the country. Four dogs have died from exposure to the algae in Austin alone. While no harm has been reported in humans in Austin, there is a potential risk. Blue green algae appears in nutrient rich [Read More]
Do genetics or nature impact a person’s health more?
DNA or zip code? Which has greater impact on your health? Of course the answer is the same as it ever was. Both! This study in Nature was interesting though in it's methodology. It used the Aetna database and found 56,000 twin pairs and studied them until age 24 (while they were on their parents [Read More]
Acute Flaccid Myelitis
Acute Flaccid Myelitis has been occurring in relatively high numbers every other year since 2014. This year the season is winding down, but ended up affected about 135 children, most (16) of them here in Texas. We don't know what causes this polio like illness characterized by paralysis. It's likely [Read More]