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For more information, see the specific type of pancreatitis: Acute pancreatitis; Chronic pancreatitis; Pancreatic abscess;
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There are a number of causes of acute pancreatitis, the most common of which are gallstones and alcoholism . These two diseases are responsible for more than 80% of all hospitalizations for acute pancreatitis. Gallstones may obstruct normal draina...
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Diagnosis of pancreatitis can be made very early in the disease by noting high levels of pancreatic enzymes circulating in the blood (amylase and lipase). Later in the disease, and in chronic pancreatitis, these enzyme levels will no longer be ele...
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There are a number of causes of acute pancreatitis. The most common, however, are gallbladder disease and alcoholism . These two diseases are responsible for more than 80% of all hospitalizations for acute pancreatitis. Other factors in the develo...
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Gallstones are hard, pebble-like deposits that form inside the gallbladder. Gallstones may be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. See also: Acute cholecystitis; Choledocholithiasis.
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Gallstones are solid crystal deposits that form in the gallbladder, a pear-shaped organ that stores bile until it is needed to help digest fatty foods. These crystals can migrate to other parts of the digestive tract, causing severe pain and life-...
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Gallstones form in the gallbladder when there is an excessive increase in the concentration of cholesterol in bile. (Bile is a secretion of the liver that aids in fat emulsification.) In the United States, 20 percent of women and 10 percent of men...
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A gallstone is a solid crystal deposit that forms in the gallbladder, which is a pear-shaped organ that stores bile salts until they are needed to help digest fatty foods. Gallstones can migrate to other parts of the digestive tract and cause seve...
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The best way to stay healthy during travel is to prepare before you leave and take appropriate preventive measures while traveling. Different areas of the world have different diseases and require different precautions. Factors that contribute to ...
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An infection is a condition in which viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites enter the body and cause a state of disease. Such invaders are called pathogens. They damage cells of the body by adhering to and damaging the cell walls, releasing toxic ...
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Although the word meningitis suggests an inflammation of the meninges only, there is always some involvement of the most superficial parts of the brain that are contiguous to the meninges. Often there are also alterations in the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
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Infection is the invasion and replication of microorganisms— viruses , bacteria , protozoa, or fungi —in body tissues.
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The phrase "filth diseases" was coined in 1858 by British physician Charles Murchison to describe a class of conditions, mostly caused by infectious pathogens, that were associated with squalid living conditions—the overcrowded, unsanitary, and ve...
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The term "emerging infection," first widely used in the early 1990s, refers to newly identified and previously unknown infectious agents that cause public health problems either locally or internationally. Their impact, in terms of economic reperc...
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A communicable disease is an illness caused by a specific infectious agent or its toxic products. It arises through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal, or inanimate reservoir to a susceptible host, either di...
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The tropics are usually defined as that part of the equatorial world bounded by the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Defining a tropical infectious disease is not as straightforward. Almost all infectious diseases can be found in the tropics; ther...
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Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is the most commonly used drug in the world. Pharmacologically, alcohol is classified as a central nervous system depressant. Like other depressants, in small doses alcohol slows heart rate and respiration, decreases mus...
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Alcoholism is defined as alcohol seeking and consumption behavior that is harmful. Long-term and uncontrollable harmful consumption can cause alcohol-related disorders that include: antisocial personality disorder , mood disorders (bipolar and maj...
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