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June 19, 2013 A vaccine against a virus that causes cervical cancer has cut infections among teenage girls by over half in the first four years of use, scientists report. Only about one-third of girls in that age group have received the recommended shots.

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June 13, 2013 Needle sharing and drug use put an estimated 4,000 people at risk for contracting HIV every year. Now, the same medications that are used to treat HIV-positive individuals might also protect the uninfected before they engage in risky behavior.

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June 10, 2013 Is the world on the verge of a pandemic? There are three reasons to think so. Two flu viruses are active, and a virus that bears a resemblance to SARS has cropped up in the Middle East. Each has devastating potential, but many early warnings of past pandemics have failed to materialize.

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June 6, 2013 At issue is a controversial study of more than 1,300 severely premature infants that looked at how much oxygen they should receive after birth. This spring, the federal Office for Human Research Protections criticized the scientists who ran the study for failing to tell parents enough about the risks.

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June 4, 2013 The goal is to counter drug resistance, which is largely a consequence of antibiotics overuse. Supporters say the plan would entice companies back into the market because it would be much cheaper to gain approval. But critics call it "a tragedy of monumental proportions."

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June 3, 2013 Tuberculosis is much less of a health threat in the United States than it is in other countries. But a family in Boston discovered that even here, no one is immune from this ancient foe. More than a dozen family members were infected with TB, and matriarch Judy Williams died at age 59.

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May 31, 2013 Mastectomies have become increasingly popular for women with breast cancer. That's a big turnaround from the 1980s, when women abandoned mastectomy in favor of breast-saving lumpectomy.

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May 23, 2013 The virus's ability to move between these mammals might not bode well for humans. So far, it appears that H7N9 doesn't pass easily between people, but it could mutate over time and pose more of a threat.

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May 13, 2013 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.

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May 8, 2013 Those people who have contracted the H7N9 virus have become very sick. And unlike the older bird flu virus, this one shows some adaptation to mammals, making it a matter of concern. But it doesn't make chickens sick, posing unique difficulties in fighting this kind of flu.

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May 2, 2013 Fewer than three weeks after they were severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombings, Celeste Corcoran and her 18-year-old daughter, Sydney, are entering a new phase of recovery and rehabilitation. Part of their healing is emotional, not physical.

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May 1, 2013 As victims of the Boston Marathon bombings leave the hospital or prepare to, their stories are beginning to pour out. Celeste Corcoran and her daughter, Sydney, both suffered grievous leg injuries. Their accounts give a fuller toll of the attack and the challenges that lie ahead.

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April 26, 2013 An oversight committee halted a big clinical study of an experimental HIV vaccine after a peek at preliminary results showed there was no way the study would be able show the vaccine works. More vaccinated people became infected with HIV than those who got placebo shots.

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April 25, 2013 When researchers turned on a gene for the hormone in the livers of diabetic lab mice, the number of insulin-making cells in their pancreas glands tripled within 10 days. Although the research was conducted in animals, the scientists say the findings could be relevant for humans.

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