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Alpha-gal syndrome comes from tick bites

Ask the Doctors By Dr. Eve Glazer and Dr. Elizabeth Ko Dear Doctors: The kids at our 8-year-old son’s day camp have become obsessed with “a bug bite that turns you into a vegetarian.” We think they are talking about a kind of tick bite that we have been hearing about on the news. Our son is fascinated, and any information you have is welcome. Dear Reader: Your son and his friends have been captivated by a tick-borne illness known as alpha-gal syndrome. The phrase “it turns you into a vegetarian” is not a clinical description -- but it’s also not as far from the truth as ...

Learn the smart way to splurge on travel

Dear Annie By Annie Lane Dear Annie: I travel fairly often from Miami to Europe and California, and lately I’ve been thinking I need to change the way I do it. I’m at the point where I’d honestly rather take fewer trips and enjoy them more than squeeze myself into economy for hours just to save money. I’d love to fly business class about five times a year and maybe treat myself to first class once in a while when it really feels worth it. What matters most to me is being able to sleep, arrive rested, have a little flexibility if plans change, and actually enjoy the travel ...

Exploring the smallest constellations high in the eastern sky after dark

Stargazers By Dennis Mammana Last week we talked about some of this month’s larger and more familiar constellations in the eastern sky after dark. Today, however, I’d like to tell you about some of those that rarely get the same attention. A great starting point for this exploration is the Summer Triangle, which, by now, I’m sure you know well. During early evening hours this week, it lies high in the eastern sky and is outlined by the three bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair. Nearby and within this obvious geometric shape appear six of the smallest and most obscure ...

Kids’ coaches must be on best behavior

The adults in a child’s life are models. They are who kids will learn to emulate. They put down the footprints that are followed. That’s what makes incidents at youth sports events so upsetting. These are not the kinds of things kids should be learning. The Pittsburgh area is used to appearing in the news around football. Aside from molten metal and flowing rivers, it’s the brand the region is built upon. But when a video of the Aug. 29 game between Keystone Oaks and Carlynton at the Honus Wagner Football Field in Carnegie hit the internet and rapidly spread through social ...

A message for men over the age of 50

The diagnosis was not a surprise — well, yes it was, because like many men with a health issue we try to deny it, or delay treatment when everyone knows that “early detection” is critical to a cure. My PSA (prostate-specific antigen) had been slowly creeping upward for the last two years. When it reached 9.0 along with a Gleason score of 9, my doctor said it was time to do something about it. This meant a prostate biopsy. It came back positive for a cancerous tumor pressing against my rectal wall. Two options were explained to me — a complete removal of the gland, or radiation ...

Trump deserving of credit

In 2007, Hugo Chavez sent men with rifles into the Orinoco Belt. They walked into oilfields Americans had surveyed, Americans had drilled and American engineering had made productive and told ExxonMobil and Conoco­Phillips to take a minority stake in their own work or get out. Those two got out. Chevron stayed and ate two decades of abuse for it. Chavez handed what he took to party loyalists, ran it into the ground and left his people eating zoo animals atop the largest proven oil reserves on earth. Give President Donald Trump the credit he has earned. Nicolas Maduro is gone. The ...