Uh Oh...
actually, I knew several who belonged to the order in Liberia... one was a nun who traveled to distant villages to diagnose and treat Hanson's disease (aka leprosy).
Did you know they have their own ambassadors and passports? And I am bemused that the press is mixing up Malta the island, and this group, whose headquarters is no longer in that island.
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Colon cancer rates in young people increasing, says the NYTimes.
but most of the article is hinting that this doesn't mean you should get a colonoscopy at a younger age (hint: because it would cost too much for our government budget).
The study draws no conclusions about whether screening should begin at a younger age. “There are always risks and unintended consequences of screening tests,” said the senior author, Dr. George J. Chang, an associate professor of surgery and health services research at the University of Texas.
When I was first in medical school, half of these cancers were within the reach of a finger...or a simple sigmoidoscopy. Now only a small percent are.
We didn't see any cases in east Africa, where high fiber diet is used, but it is common in some west African countries and here in the Philippines (blame the low fiber rice diet? neither country eats a lot of meat, which is blamed for the cases in the USA). And the rate is high in Europe but also in Oceania and Japan.
So there is probably a dietary input in the disease, yet one wonders why, with the emphasis on high fiber diets, the disease is found in younger and younger patients...
and there are families where it is genetic...we had one family with this gene, and we found a pre cancerous polyp in a 7 year old...
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