When the swine flu burst onto the scene in April, the bug arrived with a few particularly ominous signs: The flu was resistant to a class of drugs often used to fight flu in the past, and experts were surprised that a nonhuman virus could have such rapid human-to-human transmission. Why was swine flu resistant to current medicines, and was this strain a new supergerm?
When the swine flu burst onto the scene in April, the bug arrived with a few particularly ominous signs: The flu was resistant to a class of drugs often used to fight flu in the past, and experts were surprised that a nonhuman virus could have such rapid human-to-human transmission. Why was swine flu resistant to current medicines, and was this strain a new supergerm?
Mainland China reported its first case of swine flu -- a 30-year-old man "currently enrolled in a university in the United States," the country's ministry of health said.
All parents have hopes and dreams for their children. Parents of kids with serious disabilities are no different. But in their moments of wildest imagination, the parents of Vicki Martinez, Chase Ferguson and Travis Cardona could not have envisioned high school graduation -- certainly not in the dark days when they first learned their children had autism.
Two popular anti-smoking drugs will now carry warnings about the risk of severe mental health problems, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.
All parents have hopes and dreams for their children. Parents of kids with serious disabilities are no different. But in their moments of wildest imagination, the parents of Vicki Martinez, Chase Ferguson and Travis Cardona could not have envisioned high school graduation -- certainly not in the dark days when they first learned their children had autism.
High levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood probably don't cause hardening of the arteries or heart disease, according to the largest study of its kind to focus on the long-suspected culprit.
As friends of pop star Michael Jackson discuss the role prescription drugs may have played in his Thursday death, the serious health problems that can be triggered by drug interactions are again in the spotlight.
The Southeast is among the areas of the United States with the highest concentration of cases of HIV and AIDS, according to a new online tool called the National HIV/AIDS Atlas.
It always seems so straightforward on TV. You have a cardiac arrest, a handsome doctor rushes to your side, shouts "Clear!" and gives you a couple of zaps to the chest with electricity-generating paddles, and -- ta-da! -- you're back in business. Cue the tears and music.
Pop icon Michael Jackson, 50, who died Thursday afternoon after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital in cardiac arrest, had a long history of confirmed health problems, in addition to rumored conditions.
The news that one of America's TV icons is suffering from cancer brought sadness. Learning the type of cancer she had made some squeamish.
After years of rising cholesterol levels from fatty diets and pudgy waistlines, there's finally good news, experts say. More people who are trying to lower their cholesterol are actually succeeding in getting their low-density lipoprotein, or bad cholesterol, down to healthy levels.
A Nestle plant linked to an outbreak of illness has been shut temporarily, and the company said Monday that it expects to lay off more than 200 workers as a result.
You've been coughing for weeks. How do you know if it's just a hard-to-shake cold or something more serious?
A cancerous tumor in 13-year-old Danny Hauser's chest has shrunk significantly since he was ordered by a court last month to resume chemotherapy treatment, a family spokesman said.
A nonprofit consumer group said Thursday that it will sue Bayer HealthCare, alleging "deceptive and irresponsible" advertising that contends selenium in two of its multivitamins may reduce men's risk of prostate cancer.
Think that vitamins can only help--but never hurt--a condition? Although that's true in many cases, some vitamins can be harmful to certain people or under special circumstances.
Want to keep your wits sharp as the years go by? You're not alone. Most people are worried about losing their memory as they age, and a new study shows it's a valid concern: In fact, at 53 percent -- more than half of all people -- have at least a minor mental decline in their 70s and 80s, and about 16 percent develop more serious problems with memory and other mental functions as they age.
A diabetes test that measures a person's average blood glucose control over the preceding two to three months is being recommended as the new diagnostic tool for the condition.
A report released Thursday commended the government for developing plans and stockpiling antivirals after the avian flu scare but warned that gaps still exist and that the health system may not be prepared in a more severe outbreak.
The death rate due to cancer has declined in the United States in recent years, largely due to better prevention and treatment. In fact, 650,000 lives were spared from cancer between 1990 to 2005, according to new statistics from the American Cancer Society.
When Tiffany Wilson noticed a small growth on her left hip, she didn't think much of it.
Diabetes advocates are applauding President Obama's selection of Sonia Sotomayor, the 54-year-old New York jurist who was diagnosed with the type 1 diabetes when she was 8.
They're bigger, brawnier, and faster than the typical male, but are National Football League players healthier than other men their age?
Arizona reported its fourth death from the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, health officials said Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received a candidate vaccine virus for swine flu from one institution Friday, spokesman Thomas Skinner said in an e-mail.
Elton John may be famous for smash hits such as "Tiny Dancer" and scores for films such as "The Lion King," but he's also made a name for himself in HIV/AIDS activism.
Public health officials are seeing a number of outbreaks of swine flu at schools nationwide, but closing those schools may not always be the best public health measure, a federal scientist said Tuesday.
Women with breast cancer in the United States have an average age of 63 when they are diagnosed, and the disease is more common in older women than younger.
Cancer patients may be able to fight chemotherapy-induced nausea using a common pantry spice -- ginger.
Myriad Genetics, a Utah-based company, vowed Wednesday to "vigorously defend" itself against a legal challenge to its patents on two human genes linked to breast and ovarian cancers, its attorney told CNN.
I walk every day, eat a healthful diet, and have no diabetes in my immediate family. I'm not model skinny (truth be told, I've been known to pack on a few extra pounds), but I'm certainly not a couch potato or junk food addict. So, imagine my surprise when a routine blood test showed that my blood sugar was elevated and I was officially prediabetic.
A handful of people with type 1 diabetes have been able to survive without insulin shots for more than two-and-a-half years, on average, after having their own blood stem cells removed and reimplanted through intravenous injection, U.S. and Brazilian researchers reported Tuesday.
While investigators trudge through pig farms and remote villages in Mexico, searching for clues about the new swine flu, answers about the virus' origin may finally appear on a computer, based on genetic codes.
The size of a specific part of the brain may help experts pinpoint when autism could first develop, University of North Carolina researchers report.
Roy Braswell was 9 years old when the flu pandemic of 1918 hit.
In Mexico City, the government ran out of surgical masks after handing them out to one of every five residents.
Swine flu may be inspiring fear worldwide, but for Stephan Zielinski of San Francisco, California, it inspired a song.
For the past few decades when talking about malaria, public health officials and malaria experts have avoided the word "eradication."
When 3-year-old Rowan Isaacson darted away from his father and dived into a herd of grazing horses, it easily could have been the end of the small autistic boy. He was babbling under the hooves of a boss mare.
Smoking is a lot like Russian roulette: You never know who will end up developing lung cancer and who won't. But Dr. Jian-Min Yuan, as well as other researchers from the University of Minnesota, say they are one step closer to determining a smoker's risk for developing the disease. In a study, they tracked the carcinogen and nicotine levels in nearly 500 smokers through a simple urine test and discovered a link between the level of a specific carcinogen and lung cancer. Their findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference.
More than 5,000 patients of a South Dakota urology clinic may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV when the facility reused single-use medical products, state health officials said Friday.
Although many people think of a heart attack as a painful, sometimes fatal event, there are some heart attacks that go entirely unnoticed.
Public health officials in Chicago said Monday that they have tested at least 10 family members of the medical intern linked to a tuberculosis scare in the city.
Actor, author and Parkinson's disease activist Michael J. Fox spoke with CNN's "Larry King Live" to be aired Thursday.
William Searing is an Eagle Scout who loves hiking, adventure, art and sports. At age 19, he's in an education program that bridges the gap from high school to getting a job. Wil has autism.
For 8-year-old Ryan Mohar, an elevator isn't just an elevator. He spends hours pressing the buttons and riding up and down, preferring this to the slew of alternatives that his teachers offer -- even candy.
If you have a stash of pistachios in your house, pistachio ice cream in your freezer or trail mix in your backpack, don't eat any of it.
A new study indicates that African-Americans suffer heart failure at a rate 20 times higher than their white counterparts.
If you're lying awake at night, feeling angry or fatigued, because of stress, you're in the majority, according to a nationwide report released Tuesday.
Seven-year-old Heather McNamara was heading home Tuesday, a month after surgery that temporarily removed organs from her digestive tract to allow removal of a tennis ball-size tumor.
Your saliva is doing all kinds of useful things for you all the time -- for instance, helping you chew and taste food. It's also home to more than 600 species of bacteria, which are harmlessly enjoying the moisture of your mouth.
President Obama's pledge to conquer cancer "in our time" is a great goal, but one of America's top cancer experts isn't sure he'd use the word "cure."
Jake Austin, 10 months old, loves playing on the ground. On a typical February morning, Jake and his 4-year-old brother, Hank, are rolling around on the family's shiny hardwood floor, the same floor where they and their parents track in dirt from outside every day.
Nearly half of the guidelines issued to cardiologists by the country's leading heart organizations are based on low levels of evidence, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
When you get angry, the stress isn't restricted to your head. New research shows that anger actually triggers electrical changes in the heart, which can predict future arrhythmias in some patients.
A new crop of drug-resistant superbugs is in our midst, and experts believe that they could rival the deadly superbug MRSA.
With a chance of winning an Oscar on Sunday, the director of "The Final Inch" says she hopes her documentary will shed light on the often over-looked issue of polio eradication.
A person's risk of stroke is associated with the number of fast-food restaurants near their residence, according to a study presented Thursday at a stroke conference in San Diego, California.
The government is warning that taking the psoriasis drug Raptiva could result in serious brain infection and even death.
When she heard news of the Continental Airlines plane that plunged into a house in suburban Buffalo, New York, on Thursday night, killing 50 people, Jenny Gomez experienced a familiar feeling creep deep within her psyche. "It definitely sparked those old feelings of anxiety," she said.
A special court's Thursday ruling that no proven link exists between autism and certain early childhood vaccines seems to have done little to change the sometimes-passionate opinion fueling the debate.
Retirement hasn't been full of lazy days, rounds of golf and luxury vacations for Gary Terry. When this former telecommunications executive called it quits after a 32-year career, he took up an equally time-consuming volunteer job as chairman of the American Heart Association's Texas chapter.
Judy LaCour has been taking a multivitamin supplement for the past 30 years: "As often as I can remember, which isn't always, but on and off since I was in my 40s." She buys them in bulk from her local wholesale warehouse.
Pancreatic cancer is rare and extraordinarily lethal, experts say.
When Carrie Vincent of Westminster, Maryland, had three miscarriages a few years ago, her doctors put her through a lot of tests. She found she suffered from an ailment known as prothrombin gene mutation, a rare syndrome that causes blood clots.
Cancer was once assumed to be a death sentence because the disease was often incurable, but a new survey suggests the crisis for many today is paying for available treatments.
The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee is "outraged" at the growing number of food-borne illnesses nationwide, he said Thursday.
When Maria Rubeo closed her arm, she felt something "very big -- like a lemon."
Until recently, the Bilson household was under siege. Thirteen-year-old daughter Marissa, who has autism, ruled the roost, screaming shrilly until she got her way and enjoying special privileges that didn't extend to her siblings, Brittany, 15, and Brendan, 6.
The Bilson family is like many other families: three kids, a cat, and a small, lovely home with lots of family photos and carved wooden wall signs with sayings like "Live, Laugh, Love."
Kroger -- a grocery chain with stores in 31 states -- has issued a recall for foods made with peanut products, widening recalls related to the Peanut Corporation of America.
The maker of peanut butter linked to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella shipped tainted product it knew had tested positive for the bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
People with a stable mood and better capacity to handle stressful situations without anxiety have a reduced risk of developing dementia, according to a study published this week in the journal Neurology.
King Nut Companies issued a total recall of peanut butter that it distributes Saturday amid fears of a salmonella outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said has infected 399 people in 42 states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with public health officials in 42 states to determine the cause of an outbreak of a particular type of salmonella called Typhimurium.
A new study by Canadian researchers, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that colonoscopies are still very effective in detecting colorectal cancer, but they're only good at doing so in cancers found on the left side of the colon, not on the right side.
As Apple enthusiasts speculate over why pancreatic cancer survivor Steve Jobs won't appear at Macworld Conference & Expo this year, the CEO asks them to think differently about his health.
Four patients who received organ transplants in 2007 were found to have HIV and hepatitis C. Both infections came from the organ donor, who had tested negative for both illnesses. This was the first time that donated organs had infected their recipients with both HIV and hepatitis C, and the first time in 21 years an HIV infection has been transmitted in this way, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
December 26 could be one of the most dangerous days of the year for people vulnerable to cardiac problems, including heart attacks, arrhythmias, and heart failure. And many of these so-called Merry Christmas coronaries will hit people who didn't even realize they were at risk when they unwrapped their gifts the night before.
Before middle-aged men started singing "Viva Viagra" in TV ads, before former Sen. Bob Dole appeared in its commercials in the '90s, before the blue pill with a funny name entered the public lexicon, impotence was hush-hush.
Our daughter is 22 and suffers from daily migraines. We have tried numerous doctors and medicines in three states and still have no answer. She has no life. This has been going on for more than six years. We are hoping for an answer.
Want to avoid a heart attack or stroke? In addition to well-known risk factors like diet and exercise, you may want to keep an eye on your vitamin D levels too.
Twenty-seven million new cancer cases are expected by 2030, according to a report released Tuesday by the World Health Organization's cancer research agency.
Authorities in Hong Kong ordered about 80,000 chickens killed Tuesday after discovering dozens of birds had died of bird flu at a farm in the territory.
Hypothermia develops when body temperature, usually at 98.6ºF, drops below 90ºF. Frostbite occurs when parts of our bodies -- usually fingers and toes -- freeze because the blood vessels have constricted and blood flow is reduced. According to the Red Cross, about 700 people in the United States die every year from hypothermia and frostbite. People can become lost in the wilderness, stranded in their cars or trapped at home without utilities.
We've all thought we were allergic to work in the figurative sense right? But it's actually possible to be physically allergic to work. The condition is called "occupational asthma" and about one in seven people suffers from it, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Some of the symptoms are the same as "typical asthma," such as quick, short sips of breath, wheezing, and tightness in the chest. Other symptoms include coughing, sneezing, congestion, and a runny nose. Since the condition is so similar to typical asthma, it becomes very difficult to diagnose.
It started with sinus congestion for Shawna Coronado. Then the splitting migraines came. Coronado soon discovered the furry causes: Harrington and Kalamazoo.
When we commemorated the first World AIDS Day on December 1, 1988, we had little to celebrate.
The sweet smell of sugar cookies baking filled the air in Kris Shock's kitchen.
An expensive CT scan that uses multiple X-rays to produce spectacular 3-D images of the heart can't replace tried-and-true coronary angiography for finding blocked blood vessels in chest-pain patients, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
An expensive CT scan that uses multiple X-rays to produce spectacular 3-D images of the heart can't replace tried-and-true coronary angiography for finding blocked blood vessels in chest-pain patients, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Traditional Southern food tastes great, but it's often high in calories and saturated fat. As a region, the South suffers from higher rates of strokes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Rates of new cancer diagnoses and deaths for U.S. men and women have fallen for the first time, according to a new report from leading cancer and medical research organizations.
Do more frequent mammograms pick up some breast cancer tumors that might have gone away without treatment? Possibly, according to a controversial study published this week in Archives of Internal Medicine. However, experts caution that the research raises an interesting question, but can't definitively answer it.
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