Presbyopia

As many adults pass age 40 or so, they find that it becomes harder to read newspapers and books. They start to hold these items farther away from their eyes than they had in the past, because they are trying to bring the print into focus.

Prostate Cancer

Christina loved that her grandfather lived with her family. He certainly didn't act like most seventy-year-olds!

Prostatic Enlargement

Prostatic (pros-TAT-ik) enlargement is more commonly known by the difficult-sounding name benign prostatic hyperplasia (be-NINE pros-TAT-ik hy-per-PLAY-zha), or BPH. Breaking this name down into parts makes it easier to understand.

Psoriasis

When the American writer John Updike wrote a book about his own life, titled Self-Consciousness, he spent a whole chapter describing his personal battle with a long-lasting skin disease known as psoriasis. Updike called the chapter, "At War with My Skin." The word "psoriasis" comes from the Greek word for "to itch." The disease causes patches of skin to become red, thickened, itchy, and covered with silvery flakes.

Rabies

The word "rabies" is Latin for madness or rage, referring to the extreme agitation that is a symptom of the disease. Rabies has also been called hydrophobia, which means "fear of water," because of another of its symptoms: despite extreme thirst, even the sight of water produces painful spasms of the throat in people or animals with rabies.

Radiation Exposure Conditions

Radiation is a form of invisible energy given off by atoms, which are the tiny particles that make up chemical elements.

Raynaud's Disease

In this condition, the arteries that supply blood to the fingers and toes respond to cold or other stimuli by going into spasm (contracting), reducing the supply of blood to the digits and turning them white. When there is no specific reason found for this contracting, the condition is called Raynaud's disease.

Repetitive Stress Syndrome

As a member of the high school tennis team, John served with accuracy and overwhelmed his opponents with his backhand. He worked harder and practiced more than any other team member.

Reye's Syndrome

The children always arrived at the Australian hospital on the verge of death. They often would be unconscious or in a coma.

Rheumatic Fever

Until recently, doctors thought rheumatic fever had almost disappeared from the United States. In 1950, before the widespread use of antibiotics to fight strep* infections, more than 22,000 people died of rheumatic fever and the heart disease it caused.

Rickets

Vitamin D is a nutrient essential for proper bone formation. It helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the blood, and these minerals are important components of bone formation.

Ringworm

Ringworm is not caused by a worm! Ringworm is a common fungal infection that can occur on any part of the body.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

One June day, Ken took his dogs and hiked up to the top of Bitternut Mountain. The next morning when he was taking a shower, he found a tick attached to his neck at the hairline.

Salmonellosis

Salmonellosis is an illness caused by Salmonella bacteria that affects the intestine, usually resulting in diarrhea. In some people, the infection spreads to the bloodstream and other areas of the body and can be life-threatening unless they receive prompt treatment.

Scabies

Kelly returned from summer camp with many stories and a red, itchy rash. The skin on her wrists and thighs and between her fingers was covered with pimple-like bumps and she could see small S-shaped burrows under her skin.

Scarlet Fever

"H:ow dark the days seemed now, how sad and lonely the house, and how heavy were the hearts of the sisters as they. worked and waited, while the shadow of death hovered over the once happy home." With these words, author Louisa May Alcott captures the fear and tragedy that scarlet fever spread in the 1800s.

Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic* worms called blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma. Three species within the genus (Schistosoma mansoni, S.

Schizophrenia

Poe's short story features a narrator who deals with the symptoms of a serious mental disorder called schizophrenia. He hears things (in the end, the beating of a dead man's heart) that others do not hear, and he believes that people are out to get him.

Sciatica

When something squeezes the sciatic nerve, the main nerve in the leg, people feel pain in the back of the lower body. That pain, called sciatica, usually moves down the buttocks to the leg below the knee, but it can go all the way down to the foot.

Scoliosis

The name "scoliosis" comes from the Greek word meaning curvature. Everyone's backbone curves to some degree from front to back, which is necessary for proper movement and walking.

Scurvy

Scurvy was one of the first recognized dietary deficiency diseases. During the sea voyages of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, many sailors suffered from scurvy.

Seizures

As part of his sixth grade study of self-awareness, Eric was assigned to draw the frames of a film that would show the world as he saw it. Teachers were puzzled by what Eric drew.