Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that mainly affect the respiratory system. The severity of illness they cause ranges from a common cold to very serious and even fatal respiratory infections. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath and high fever, whereas in some severe cases and depending on the virus…

12th of November has been established as World Pneumonia day since 2009 aiming to increase awareness on pneumonia, one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality especially in children and the elderly. What is Pneumonia? Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs especially affecting the alveoli that fill with…

The World Health Organization has included air pollution among the top ten threats to public health in 2019. What is Air pollution? Air pollution can be defined as the process of various pollutants being dispersed into the air which lead to harmful effects on all living organisms and the environment.1 Pollutants…

Smoking, a classified disease, is the greatest epidemic of all time. Although smoking affects the whole body, the respiratory system is the point of entry and main target for the harmful effects of the noxious toxic substances inhaled through various tobacco products. Some of the main known tobacco-induced respiratory diseases…

What is Asthma? Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition that causes recurrent episodes of airway narrowing (bronchoconstriction), excess mucus production and thickening of the airway walls due to the underlying bronchial hyper-responsiveness, making it harder to breathe. Asthma can affect all ages but usually starts in childhood and only rarely…

Vaccine Hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy, usually expressed by the anti-vaccination movement is not a new concept, it is as old as the first vaccine introduced in the early 1800’s. The current anti-vaccination wave was triggered by an article in the Lancet in 1999 by Andrew Wakefield that claimed autism was associated…

COPD was the 3rd overall cause of death, globally in 2016. –World Health Organization What is COPD? According to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 2018 report, “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common, preventable and treatable…

What is Pneumonia? Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs especially affecting the alveoli that fill with pus and fluid instead of air. (alveoli are tiny air sacs that help to deliver oxygen from the air to the blood). Based on where it was acquired, pneumonia is characterized as: Community-Acquired…

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the George D. Behrakis Research Lab is sharing some very important information on Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Greece. It is characterized by the presence of abnormal cells in the breast that grow and divide rapidly and…

Cancer is a generic term for a group of diseases which can affect any body organ or system characterized by rapid, uncontrollable and abnormal cell growth and division, as well as the ability to spread throughout the body (metastasis). The cancer is usually named after the organ where it started from,…