Influenza (commonly called "the flu") and the common cold are different illnesses that share some of the same symptoms and it is important to distinguish between them. The flu is of course more serious than a cold and can lead to extreme fatigue, high fever, and even death.

As COVID-19 is proving to the world, tiny viruses are powerful biological agents, capable of rapidly effecting massive damage and fatality. And yet, they’re so simple: a virus is merely comprised of pieces of genetic material—either RNA or DNA—wrapped in a protein envelope, which is known as a “capsid.” Yet this tiny organism carries with it a mortality rate (death rate) or about 10% for people over 70 years of age and 22% for those over 80.

A new coronavirus virus, likely first transmitted to people from animals at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is making international headlines as public health detectives work to uncover what it is, how it’s transmitted, and how deadly the virus actually is. I thought I would address these and other questions about this outbreak.

Candida is the quintessential opportunistic pathogen. Normally its population is maintained at healthy levels by acid-producing bacteria that co-inhabit the same areas. When these normal bacteria populations are reduced or otherwise disturbed by any number of factors (discussed below) however, yeast populations can grow to abnormally high levels.