When the neighborhood, town or nation is the patient, we're on the case. Find out about health in the community and around the globe. We round up the latest on prevention, disease outbreaks and the world's response to health crises.
by Michaeleen Doucleff
A handful of polio infections in Kenya and Somalia could set back efforts to wipe out the virus worldwide, health workers warned Wednesday. The last time there was polio in this region, the virus spread throughout the Horn of Africa into the Middle East and eventually into Indonesia.
by Nancy Shute
A measles epidemic in Wales that has infected more than 1,000 people is the fallout from a fraudulent paper linking the vaccine and autism published almost 15 years ago, health officials say. Many of the children and teenagers sick with measles were never vaccinated.
by Maureen Chowdhury
Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, described what he saw Monday. As winds ripped through the facility, people started "to tumble and roll and be pushed down the hall," he said.
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by Nancy Shute
New, young drivers are much more likely to have an accident if they're short on sleep, researchers say. And teenage drivers are far more impaired than adults when facing an equivalent lack of sleep.
by Michaeleen Doucleff
The world's top health problems are more common in men than women. But recent global funding has been skewed toward women's issues. Some health economists say more effort should go toward stopping men's risky behaviors, like smoking and drinking.
A study of mine blast victims finds further evidence that there's a resurgence of black lung among coal miners. The relatively young ages of some of the miners and their limited tenure underground suggests significant exposure to coal dust.
by Michaeleen Doucleff
Scientists used a Dutch woman's dirty stocking to learn that mosquitoes infected with malaria find humans hard to resist. Like a fungus that turns ants into zombies, the parasite seems to change the behavior of the mosquitoes for its own benefit.
by Richard Knox
SARS burst on the scene in 2003 after one man infected travelers staying on the same floor of a Hong Kong hotel. Now that a new virus with similarities to SARS has spread from person to person, public health officials are urging hospitals to be on guard.
by Michaeleen Doucleff
Infecting mosquitoes with a specific type of bacteria makes the insects resistant to malaria. Now scientists have figured out how to get the mosquitoes to pass the infections on to their offspring. If it can done reliably, it might help interrupt transmission of malaria to humans.
by Scott Hensley
The two makers of HPV vaccines have agreed to lower the prices for their vaccines to less than $5 a shot for low-income countries. The cheaper vaccine may make it easier to vaccinate girls in places where the risk of death from cervical cancer is greatest.
