In Europe, most swine flu shots by invitation only
5:50
In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flu vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls. And there are no cries of injustice that the vaccine is going to wealthy corporations or...
Poll: One-third able to get swine flu vaccine
3:29
Only about a third of adults who have tried to get a swine flu vaccine have been able to get it, according to a new national poll released Friday. That's true even for people who are at extra risk for severe...
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup got swine flu vaccine
6:53
Some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first...
New gene therapy halts 2 boys' rare brain disease
5:12
French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause...
WHO: Swine flu virus is top strain worldwide
10:50
The World Health Organization's flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide. In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses being sampled, said...
Family doctors group loses members over Coke deal
8:57
Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke. The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new...
Genetic tests for UK asylum seekers draw criticism
5:49
Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups. The United...
Officials: Swine flu confirmed in Iowa cat
6:02
A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said Wednesday, and it is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline. The domestic shorthaired cat was treated...
Family doctors group loses members over Coke deal
5:55
Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke. The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new...
Old method of heart bypass better than 'off-pump'
5:00
It seemed like a great idea _ doing bypass surgery while the heart is still beating, sparing patients the complications that can come from going on a heart-lung machine. Now the first big test of this method has...
Commercial pigs in Ind. test positive for H1N1
2:09
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana have tested positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been found in such hogs. The USDA said it...
Health care dispute: Costs of defensive medicine
1:36
Dr. James Wang says he tries to tell his patients when extra medical procedures aren't necessary. If they insist, though, he will do it _ not so much to protect their health as his own practice. After being sued for...
Smart Rx: Drugs that work and won't break the bank
1:01
Last year pharmaceutical companies spent more than $4 billion urging patients like you to "ask your doctor" about their drugs. But if you want a prescription that won't empty your wallet, while still keeping you well,...
Low cholesterol may prevent some prostate cancers
2:23
Men may protect more than their hearts if they keep cholesterol in line: Their chances of getting aggressive prostate cancer may be lower, new research suggests. One study found that men whose cholesterol was in a...
Chinese official: Syphilis boom driven by economy
1:36
China has seen a tenfold increase in syphilis cases over the past decade, as migrant workers made enough money in the country's economic boom to hire more prostitutes, a senior Chinese health official was quoted as...
Premature births worsen US infant death rate
12:39
Premature births, often due to poor care of low-income pregnant women, are the main reason the U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than in most European countries, a government report said Tuesday. About 1 in 8 U.S....
New vaccine offers hope in Africa's malaria battle
10:19
A mother watched with dread as a nurse inserted a tube in her baby's head. Blood streamed into the anemic 4-month-old who already has malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills a million African children every year....
Poor countries see troubling rise in breast cancer
3:15
Nurses were training women in rural Mexico to examine their breasts for cancer when one raised her hand to object. If she lost her breast, Harvard public health specialist Felicia Knaul recalls the woman saying, "My man...
More insurers are paying for alternative remedies
12:00
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in...
Study ties common antibiotics with birth defects
4:13
Researchers studying antibiotics in pregnancy have found a surprising link between common drugs used to treat urinary infections and birth defects. Reassuringly, the most-used antibiotics in early pregnancy _...
Ukraine closes all schools to fight swine flu
3:57
Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine on Monday closed the nation's schools for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas and food markets in the west also shut down. The World...
More insurers are paying for alternative remedies
2:23
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in...
Stigma part of breast cancer's grip on poor
2:05
Nurses were training women in rural Mexico to examine their breasts for cancer when one raised her hand to object. If she lost her breast, Harvard public health specialist Felicia Knaul recalls the woman saying, "My man...
1 dose of flu vaccine working in pregnant women
2:05
A single dose of the swine flu vaccine works well for almost all pregnant women, but young children will still need two doses for best results, federal health officials said Monday. Twenty-one days after receiving a...
Med, nursing schools teaching alternative remedies
12:00
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in...
UN: $39 billion needed for pneumonia
7:01
To fight pneumonia, the world's top killer of children, United Nations officials say they need $39 billion (euro26.35 billion) over the next six years. On the first World Pneumonia Day on Monday, the World Health...
Med, nursing schools teaching alternative remedies
12:06
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in...
Govt says swine flu vaccine catching up to demand
11:33
A senior adviser to President Barack Obama says the government will catch up to the demand for swine flu vaccine within a week. Obama adviser David Axelrod says the manufacturers of the vaccine were wrong when they...
Castro: more US visitors mean more Cuban swine flu
10:08
Fidel Castro has found something to sneeze at in Washington's decision to ease visits by Cuban-Americans to his island: He says more Americans mean more swine flu. The 83-year-old ex-president wrote in state-controlled...
Study finds stroke risk from anemia drug Aranesp
8:40
A new study raises fresh safety concerns about widely used anemia medicines, finding that the drug Aranesp nearly doubled the risk of stroke in people with diabetes and chronic kidney problems who are not yet sick...
Side effects not always due to swine flu shot
8:01
Hundreds of people on any given day will die, develop the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome or have spontaneous abortions, and that doesn't necessarily mean that their swine flu vaccination shot was to blame, a new...
CDC: Swine flu kids' deaths jump to 114
4:08
Swine flu has caused at least 19 more children's deaths _ the largest one-week increase since the pandemic started in April, health officials said Friday. At least 114 children have died from swine flu complications...
Some who get vaccine not in high-risk groups
10:18
It was bound to happen: Some people who aren't at high risk for swine flu complications got the much-in-demand vaccine. Sometimes they were healthy adults or senior citizens instead of kids, pregnant women and people...
Getting enough sleep? They aren't in West Virginia
12:36
Sleepless in Seattle? Hardly. West Virginia is where people are really staying awake, according to the first government study to monitor state-by-state differences in sleeplessness. West Virginians' lack of sleep was...
CDC: Up to 6 million swine flu cases in few months
10:42
As many as 5.7 million Americans were infected with swine flu during the first few months of the pandemic, according to estimates from federal health officials. Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and...
Health experts: Kids should get seasonal flu shot
8:02
Dutch scientists made a controversial suggestion Friday that children might be better off skipping the seasonal flu vaccine this year _ a proposal flatly rejected by other health experts. Their commentary, based...
Fight erupts in line at Nevada swine flu clinic
7:33
A fight broke out Thursday at a Reno, Nev., clinic giving shots for swine flu when someone reportedly tried to cut in line. Washoe County Health District spokeswoman Judy Davis says she didn't have any details of the...
Obama girls' vaccine: Favoritism or good example?
7:11
With Dad a world leader and Nobel Prize winner, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could have been first in line when vaccinations began for swine flu. They weren't, the White House says. But that hasn't stopped complaints...
Study: Cholesterol drugs may improve flu survival
5:11
A new treatment for swine flu may already be on pharmacy shelves _ cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor. A large study found that people who were taking these drugs when they caught seasonal flu and...
Obama girls' shots: favoritism or public service?
3:31
With dad a world leader, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could've been first in line when swine flu vaccinations began. The White House says they weren't. But that hasn't stopped complaints that President Barack Obama's...
Tracking how flu evolves _ it has sticky tricks
2:00
Vaccinating more children might help slow the evolution of the constantly changing flu virus, government scientists reported Thursday. Influenza is a mighty mutator. Sometimes it makes big changes that result in...
Mecca-bound pilgrims prompt swine flu precautions
2:00
Some of the millions who travel to Saudi Arabia next month for the annual hajj will be greeted with face masks, hand sanitizer and fever checks as health officials strive to stem the spread of swine flu during the...
Novartis says on track to deliver US vaccine order
9:55
Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG said Thursday it is on track to meet its U.S. government order for swine flu vaccine, seeking to calm fears in recent weeks that shipments and vaccination programs may be delayed. The...
Children learn their part in swine flu prevention
11:06
Mention swine flu to a young child, and odds are pretty good you'll get a blank stare. But an increasing number of kids can tell you that the Sesame Street character "Elmo" sneezes properly into the crook of his arm,...
Scientists patch damaged lungs for transplanting
7:00
Call it a genetic patch job for worn lungs: Canadian researchers took donated lungs deemed too damaged to transplant and repaired them with outside-the-body gene therapy. It will take lots more research to see if the...
As flu shots arrive, government hopes delays fixed
3:58
With more than 23 million doses of swine flu vaccine now available, health officials are visiting vaccine plants to check for any more pending interruptions to what appears to be a slowly but steadily growing supply. ...
Swiss gov't wants restrictions on assisted suicide
2:17
The Swiss government proposed Wednesday to restrict or even ban assisted suicide groups such as Dignitas in a bid to cut down on 'suicide tourism.' Scores of foreigners travel to Switzerland every year to end their...
AIDS experts say Russia needs new HIV strategy
1:58
AIDS experts urged Russian officials on Wednesday to scrap their abstinence-based strategy for curbing the spread of HIV, saying the country's fast-growing epidemic could be entering a dangerous new phase. AIDS...
US swine flu vaccine outlook improving, CDC says
8:11
More than 22 million doses of swine flu vaccine are available now, and most Americans should soon find it easier to get their dose, U.S. health officials said Tuesday. "We're beginning to get to significant increases...
Alarming weight gain seen in kids on psych drugs
4:05
Children on widely used psychiatric drugs can quickly gain an alarming amount of weight; many pack on nearly 20 pounds and become obese within just 11 weeks, a study found. "Sometimes this stuff just happens like an...