Viral Illnesses

Even if your child has been immunised, they may be missing protection against meningococcal disease.1 Meningococcal is a rare but potentially deadly..

There are several types of hepatitis. They have letters for their names: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C. They all affect your liver. H..

Meningococcal disease is caused by bacteria. Three out of every twenty people in New Zealand carry the bacteria in their nasal passages, they don’..

Chicken pox is a common childhood disease caused by the varicella virus. It causes small itchy blisters to form on the skin and also makes people fe..

Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV is not a new virus, but in fact a very common, very contagious virus that infects the respiratory tract. It can ..

SPONSORED. Whooping cough (also known as pertussis) is a highly contagious bacterial disease which can be very serious...

Whooping cough is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis that infects the lungs and airways. Whooping cough is very contagious and is pass..

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a viral illness most common in children under the age of 10. It seems to be seasonal and often occurs in the ..

There will be many parents familiar with the seal-like bark of croup and its alarming tendency to hit children in the early hours of the morning. Wh..

With the latest measles outbreak people are asking their local pharmacists questions about measles: How do I catch it? What are the symptoms ..

Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. Anyone who has previously had chicken pox – and most of us caught ..

There was a recent death from meningitis reported in the newspapers. Although meningitis is more common in winter it is good for everyone to be aware ..

Shingles is a disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. Shingles affects the nerve endings...

I remember ‘back in the day’ as a student nurse at Middlemore in the 1980s being astounded at the amount of respiratory illnesses on the medical w..

Chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, slap cheek, meningitis...

Commonly, sore throats are viral, resulting from the common cold, glandular fever, measles, chicken pox or whooping cough.

Shingles begins with the sensation of burning or tingling on or under the skin. Up to a week later the rash appears...

Prior to the invention of antibiotics pneumonia killed one third of its victims, and even today, around 5% of pneumonia patients will die...

Herpes doesn’t deserve the upset it causes. Four out of five New Zealanders have the herpes simplex virus.