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It is believed that the Incas used anesthesia. Evidence supports the theory that shamans chewed cocoa leaves and drilled holes into the heads of patients (letting evil spirits escape), spitting into the wounds they made. The mixture of cocaine, saliva, and resin numbed the site enough to allow hours of drilling.
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system destroys its own healthy tissues. When this occurs, white blood cells cannot distinguish between pathogens and normal cells.
Approximately 25% of all reported medication errors result from some kind of name confusion.
Bacteria have been found alive in a lake buried one half mile under ice in Antarctica.
Most childhood vaccines are 90–99% effective in preventing disease. Side effects are rarely serious.

