Staphylococcus or "staph" bacteria naturally inhabit the skin, but they cause problems when they penetrate the skin through a cut or enter the body or bloodstream by some other means. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a type...
Diverticulitis is a disease characterized by inflamed or infected fluid-filled pouches, known as diverticula, in the digestive tract. Diverticula can form in the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and anywhere else in the digestive system, but...
Staphylococci, or staph, are widely prevalent bacteria commonly responsible for hospital and community-acquired infections. Early recognition and appropriate treatment can help decrease the length of illness and possible complications. Tests for...
A carbuncle is a group of infected hair follicles that merge to form a large, painful, infected mass--an abscess. The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus most commonly causes this skin infection. A carbuncle appears as a broad, red, warm, swollen...
A perirectal abscess is a collection of pus that forms as the result of an infection, most often an infected anal gland. The individual will notice a tender red lump under the skin near the anus. Pain is the most common symptom and is usually...
Diverticulitis is an inflammation of tiny pouches on the inner lining of the digestive tract known as diverticula. Diverticulitis may cause sudden, severe pain located in the lower left side of the abdomen as well as fever, nausea, constipation,...
The incidence of kidney stones is on the increase though the reason for this increase, remains unclear. Kidney stones are more common in Caucasians and men. There is a number of different forms of kidney stones in structure, color and composition....
Small, abnormal pouches called diverticula line the colon or large intestine and bulge outward through weak spots in the intestinal wall. Diverticulitis occurs when the pouches become inflamed from either bacteria or stool. The remedies for...
HA-MRSA is the acronym for hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a strain of staph infection that is resistant to most of the antibiotics typically prescribed to treat it. MayoClinic.com points out that most infections of...
A tooth abscess is a pocket of infected material resulting from an infection in the center of the tooth. Tooth decay is often the main culprit of a tooth abscess. Tooth decay causes openings in tooth enamel, allowing harmful bacteria, dead tissue...
An abscess is a localized collection of pus surrounded by swollen tissue. Abscesses can occur anywhere in the body and are caused by an infection. When the body attempts to fight off the infection, it "corners" the bacteria and foreign bodies in a...
When you have an abscess, then you know you have an infection at the site of the skin eruption. An abscess will occur when your body attempts to fight off an infection with white blood cells. As the white blood cells move to the infection site,...
Pain from an abscessed tooth is like no other kind of toothache pain. While mild toothache pain may come and go, the pain from an abscess is constant and severe. Ignoring severe toothache pain from an abscess can result in serious complications if...
The National Institutes of Health defines constipation as having a bowel movement fewer than three times per week. People with constipation typically report dry, hard, compact stools that are difficult to eliminate. Short-term effects of...
Cellulitis is a deep bacterial infection of the skin. It can occur in any part of the body, but according to the Children's Hospital of Boston, it usually involves the face, arms, legs or any site that has sustained trauma. Trauma allows bacteria...
Rashes are very common in children. There are different causes for rashes in kids, and the location of the rash can give a clue as to the underlying cause of the eruption. Other symptoms can help you in the diagnosis, including the appearance or...
While the eyes are highly specialized sense organs, they remain susceptible to many of the same types of disease processes that affect other body tissues. Infections, allergies, pollution and age-related changes commonly lead to eye disorders. Due...
Tuberculosis, or TB, is a significant cause of illness and death worldwide. According to MayoClinic.com, about 2 million people die from TB each year. According to "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine," prior to the advent of modern...
Hemorrhoids are a medical condition in which veins in the anus dilate and enlarge, causing symptoms. These can be considered internal or external, depending on the exact anatomy, and are quite common. They affect 50 percent of the adult population...
Pain, redness and tenderness are symptoms seen in both abscesses and cellulitis. The symptoms are similar, but they require different medical treatments. Both abscess and cellulitis can lead to further complications if symptoms are ignored and...
Chemotherapy embolization, or chemoembolization, is a procedure utilizing a catheter to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumor while cutting the blood supply to it. The procedure, most commonly used to treat liver tumors, allows doctors...
Abscesses and cold sores represent two common oral-facial complaints. Both result from infections: bacteria cause abscesses, the herpes simplex virus causes cold sores. Doctors and dentists rely on history and physical examination to tell whether...
According to John S. McDonald, MD, chairman of the department of anesthesiology and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA Medical Center, spinal anesthesia has emerged as the technique of choice in Cesarean sections because of superior...
Patients enter the hospital expecting to get well. For a small percentage of patients, however, hospitalization leads to the development of a new infection. Hospital-acquired infections, also known as nosocomial infections, are the leading...
Pain in and around the teeth, a common problem, occurs in many people with poor oral hygiene, according to the Merck Manuals. Toothache accounts for 1 to 5 percent of emergency department visits in the United States, according to an article by Dr....
Appendix surgery, or appendectomy, involves the removal of the appendix. Appendicitis is the main reason for an appendectomy. The surgery can be done through a single incision about 6 cm long or laparoscopically, through a small incision using...
Tonsillitis is a condition where the tonsils, clumps of fleshy tissue located on each side in the back of the throat, become infected by a virus or bacteria. Viral tonsillitis often subsides without any specific treatment; however, bacterial...
There are numerous diseases that affect the tailbone. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health or NIH, the tailbone, also known as the coccyx, is a small bone located under the sacrum at the bottom...
According to MedlinePlus, due to the proximity of numerous lymph nodes, the armpit, also known as the axilla, is a common location for painful, swollen lumps. Other problems can also cause armpit pain, including traumatic injuries, chemical...
Abscesses are puss filled cavities that result from a variety of infections or injuries. Learn more about abscesses, including symptoms and treatments, in this video.
