DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My specialist has diagnosed me with celiac disease, via an intestinal biopsy. I am 71. It seems strange that I should get it at this late date. Does old age make you more sensitive to it? Now, if I eat even so much as a tiny morsel of wheat, I feel awful for 24 hours. Will I ever get off the gluten-free diet? – A.S.

ANSWER: Not so long ago, celiac was believed to be a rare bird. Today it is diagnosed with 100 times the frequency it was diagnosed 50 years ago.

The problem is a sensitivity of a person’s digestive tract to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. The protein causes inflammation of the small intestine, the part of the digestive tract where food absorption takes place.

Symptoms include crampy stomach pain, fatigue, weight loss and diarrhea. Sometimes the symptoms are so mild that the only manifestations of the illness show up in deficiencies of such things as iron, which leads to anemia, or calcium, which leads to osteoporosis.

Celiac disease usually appears at younger ages, but 15 percent of patients don’t get it until after age 65, and a few develop it in their 90s. Age doesn’t make you more sensitive to it.

Treatment is strict avoidance of gluten, something difficult to do, and something all but impossible to do without precise instructions. Gluten is in many foods that you would least suspect. The diet is for life.

Do two things. Contact a dietitian for diet instructions. Then contact the Celiac Disease Foundation. Its Web site is www.celiac.org. If you don’t have a computer, a friend might have one, or the local library can help you out. The foundation’s phone number is 1-818-990-2354 – not a toll-free number. You’ll find the foundation a best friend on whom you can rely for information on how to cope with the ailment and with the diet that brings relief from it.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What can you tell me and other women about their husbands who had mumps and the mumps went down there? Old wives’ tales claim these men cannot father children, but I know for a fact they can. Some believe otherwise. Please set them straight. – Anon.

ANSWER: By “going down there,” the letter-writer means the mumps virus can infect the testicles. It happens to about 20 percent of males who contract mumps after puberty, rarely before. Most of the time only one testicle is infected, and that affects neither future fertility nor sexual performance.

Even when both testicles have been infected, the ability to perform sexually is not affected, and the ability to have children is a rare complication.

Since 1967, when the mumps vaccine came into general use, there has been a 99 percent decline in the number of mumps cases. This question is rarely asked these days.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I had a urinalysis, and it showed bacteria. I took antibiotics, but I still have bacteria in the urine. The doctor said he can’t do anything more, since I don’t have any symptoms. What damage can this do to my body? Should I be concerned? – K.W.

ANSWER: You have what’s known as asymptomatic bacteriuria – bacteria in the urine that are not producing any signs of infection like painful urination, frequent trips to the bathroom and the need to get to the bathroom quickly and urgently so urine control is not lost.

I assume you are an older woman.

Women who are 65 and older with asymptomatic bacteriuria are usually not treated with antibiotics, any other drugs or any changes in their diet. The bacteria are not causing trouble and will not cause trouble. Giving these women antibiotics can put them at risk of drug side effects for no good reason. Furthermore, if a course of antibiotics is given, the bacteria almost always return. It’s fighting a battle that doesn’t need to be waged.

The booklet on urinary-tract infections details bladder and kidney infections. To obtain a copy, write to: Dr. Donohue – No. 1204, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-4675. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6.75 Can with the recipient’s printed name and address. Please wait four weeks for delivery.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.