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Shots - Health News
HIV Cure Is Closer As Patient's Full Recovery Inspires New Research
July 18, 2012 After Timothy Ray Brown became the first person to be cured of HIV, scientists became more optimistic that they could find other ways to cure patients. Two of the most promising possibilities include a vaccine and gene therapy that would re-engineer the immune system.
Shots - Health News
Cholera Vaccination Test Reached Targets In Haiti
July 17, 2012 Almost 90 percent of the target population – half in Port-au-Prince and the other half in a remote rural area – got fully protected against cholera. The results defy the forecasts of skeptics who said in advance of the campaign that it would be lucky to protect 60 percent of the target populations.
Shots - Health News
Deciding On Truvada: Who Should Take HIV Prevention Pill?
July 17, 2012 Truvada, the first HIV prevention pill, costs about $13,000 a year, and it's not clear whether insurers will pay for it. And while taking a daily pill sounds simple, the new prevention strategy involves some complicated issues.
AIDS: A Turning Point
'Treatment As Prevention' Rises As Cry In HIV Fight
July 12, 2012 Momentum behind the tactic has grown ever since a big study showed that people with HIV are 96 percent less likely to pass the virus on if they faithfully take antiviral medicine. Experts call it a "transformational moment" in the course of this epidemic. But many people with HIV still don't know they have it.
Shots - Health News
First Home Test For HIV May Cut Down New Infections
July 3, 2012 Public health officials hope OraQuick, which just won the FDA's approval, will help identify some of the nearly quarter-million Americans who are infected with HIV but don't know it. These unknowingly infected people are one reason why there are something like 50,000 new HIV infections a year in the U.S.
AIDS: A Turning Point
Treating HIV: From Impossible To Halfway There
July 3, 2012 Today in Haiti there are thousands of modern-day Lazaruses — people who have been rescued from the final stages of AIDS with treatment. Many HIV-positive survivors there and around the world are receiving treatment thanks to President Bush's $15 billion emergency program, called PEPFAR.
Shots - Health News
Drug-Resistant Germ In Rhode Island Hospital Raises Worries
June 22, 2012 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites Rhode Island Hospital for fast work in stamping out a dangerous antibiotic-resistant germ. But federal officials are concerned the next time might not go as well. They're asking U.S. hospitals to be alert to the threat.
Shots - Health News
Scientists Find New Wrinkle In How Cholera Got To Haiti
June 18, 2012 Researchers have found two very different cholera strains in some of the first Haitians to be struck by the disease. The findings suggest that cholera germs may have been lurking undetected in Haiti for a long time.
Shots - Health News
Traces Of Virus In Man Cured Of HIV Trigger Scientific Debate
June 13, 2012 Researchers have found traces of HIV virus in the cells of a man who was the first to be cured of the infection with bone marrow transplants. The findings raise fresh questions about how to define a cure for HIV/AIDS.
Shots - Health News
Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis A 'Serious Epidemic' In China
June 6, 2012 More than 10 percent of the new cases of tuberculosis diagnosed in China each year are resistant to the mainstay drugs used to treat the illness. The sobering findings come from the first national survey of the disease conducted there.
Shots - Health News
Sick in America: Hispanics Grapple With Cost And Quality Of Care
May 31, 2012 When it comes to out-of-pocket costs for health care, 42 percent of Hispanics say they're a "very serious" problem, according to a recent NPR poll. The finding runs counter to the widespread impression that African-Americans are worst-off when it comes to the cost and quality of health care.
Shots - Health News
Counterfeiters Exploit Shortage To Market Fake Adderall Pills
May 29, 2012 The FDA says fake Adderall pills are easy to spot: They're white instead of peachy-pink; and the packaging of the counterfeit pills is riddled with typos and misspellings — "aspartrte" instead of "aspartate," and "singel" instead of "single."
Shots - Health News
With PSA Testing, The Power Of Anecdote Often Trumps Statistics
May 28, 2012 A federal task force's recommendations against routine blood tests for prostate cancer raises big questions about how to interpret medical evidence and what role expert panels should play in how doctors practice. But those questions aren't easy to answer.
Shots - Health News
Easier Colon Cancer Test Works Well, But Colonoscopy's Still King
May 22, 2012 Over the past decade or so, sigmoidoscopy has been largely abandoned by doctors in the U.S. in favor of colonoscopy to detect and prevent colon cancer. But sigmoidoscopy is easier on patients and is also effective in finding precancerous polyps.
Shots - Health News
Task Force: End Routine PSA Tests For Prostate Cancer
May 21, 2012 The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says the testing doesn't save enough lives to justify the risk of unnecessary surgery and radiation. But one testing supporter says, "If all PSA screening were to stop, there would be thousands of men who would unnecessarily suffer and die from prostate cancer."