The headline for the July 29th New York Times article read “Scientists Seek to Rein in Diagnoses of Cancer.†The accompanying article discusses the fact that many diagnoses of cancer are of conditions that, though pre-malignant or not life-threatening, are labelled as cancer and frighten patients into seeking “what may be unneeded and potentially harmful treatments.â€
April 9, 2012 - By the late 1940s we knew a great deal about acute infectious diseases. We understood that these diseases could be identified by the specific microorganisms that caused them and that they had a definite course. Further, we knew that they were accompanied by high fever, internal shivering, pain, skin eruptions or some other acute symptoms. It was also understood that these diseases could be reduced or even eliminated if an appropriate vaccine was found that would prepare the body to fend off the microorganism.