/oss/taxonomy/term/1839/all en /oss/article/health-history/drugs-need-be-properly-tested-being-put-use <p>The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. is under pressure to fast track drugs that may be helpful in the treatment of COVID-19. Remdesivir, originally approved for Ebola, may be helpful, as may the anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. However, the safety/efficacy profile of these medications has to be clarified before they are used on a large scale to treat a disease for which they have not been studied. It is instructive at this time to reflect on the situation that gave the FDA the power to regulate drugs.</p> Fri, 20 Mar 2020 18:53:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8188 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/word-quarantine-comes-italian-word-forty-days <p style="text-align:justify">The term derives from “quaranta giorni,” meaning 40 days, and traces back to the 14th century when the city of Dubrovnik, now in Croatia, was under Venetian rule. The Great Pestilence, or the Great Plague, as it was known at the time, was devastating Europe. As a form of protection, Dubrovnik declared that all ships and people had to be isolated for 40 days before entering the city.</p> Thu, 06 Feb 2020 18:07:55 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8102 at /oss /oss/article/health-pseudoscience/nonsense-about-coronavirus-goes-viral <p>It started with a video of a woman, supposedly in Wuhan, eating a bat. The inference, with racist overtones, is that the Chinese habit of consuming strange foods has now put the population of the world at risk. The truth is that the video has nothing to do with Wuhan, and is not new. It was shot as part of a travel program showing the Chinese host sampling a bat dish on the Pacific island of Palau where such exotic foods are apparently favoured. As is often the case, the twaddle that spreads like wildfire on the Internet, has a kernel of truth.</p> Fri, 31 Jan 2020 22:49:57 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8098 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-health-news-supplements/ebola-scams-are-sickening <p>We’ve seen it before. A medical crisis emerges and the scam artists crawl out of the woodwork. Fearful citizens pop open their wallets and fork out hard-earned money for nonsensical “cures.” When it comes to a disease for which science cannot offer an effective treatment, quacks quickly rush in to fill the vacuum. This is just what is happening with Ebola.</p> Fri, 24 Oct 2014 23:57:59 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2207 at /oss