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Global Health

Tuesday May 31, 2011

Europe Grapples With Foodborne Illness Outbreak

A farmer holds cucumbers in a field in Malaga, Spain. Cucumbers from Spain have been eyed as the source of a disease outbreak in Germany. Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Europe Grapples With Foodborne Illness Outbreak

May 31, 2011 • Blame for the outbreak has been pinned on produce from Spain, a charge the country denies. Hundreds of people in Germany have fallen sick from a virulent strain of E. coli that can cause severe kidney damage.

Monday May 30, 2011

German Toll Rises In Europe's E.coli Outbreak

German farmer Tim Voges destroyed produce in the town of Ronneburg because of suspicion that vegetables could be contaminated with Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli bacteria. Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images

Europe

German Toll Rises In Europe's E.coli Outbreak

May 30, 2011 • The death toll from the outbreak allegedly caused by contaminated Spanish produce rose to at least 11 in Germany. Meanwhile, Spain said there was no proof that the E. coli outbreak has been caused by Spanish vegetables.

Friday May 27, 2011

Shots - Health News

Strong Warnings On Cigarettes Prompt Smokers To Consider Quitting

May 27, 2011 • A survey of smokers in 14 countries found that health warnings on cigarette packages registered with most smokers. And among those smokers who noticed them, more than a quarter said the messages led them to think about quitting.

Thursday May 26, 2011

Shots - Health News

U.S. Mulls Implications Of Early Use Of HIV Drugs To Stop AIDS Spread

May 26, 2011 • Findings from a recent study suggest that if all the HIV-infected people in the world got antiviral drugs, the 30-year-old pandemic could be brought to heel. Now the administration's chief AIDS strategist is leading a what-if discussion about that tack.

Tuesday May 24, 2011

Shots - Health News

U.S. Measles Cases Hit 15-Year High

May 24, 2011 • So far this year, 118 cases of measles have been reported in the United States. Now that may not sound like a whole lot, but that makes this the busiest period for measles since 1996, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Smallpox virions like these won't be destroyed for at least a few more years. Fred Murphy and Sylvia Whitfield/CDC hide caption

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Fred Murphy and Sylvia Whitfield/CDC

Shots - Health News

WHO Grants Smallpox A Reprieve

May 24, 2011 • The U.S. has argued supplies of smallpox virus are needed for development of better vaccines and treatments. The biggest fear is not a natural outbreak but an act of bioterrorism.

Monday May 16, 2011

Shots - Health News

Has The Time Come To Destroy Smallpox For Good?

May 16, 2011 • Member states of the World Health Organization are expected to decide whether to destroy the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus on the planet. A decison

Thursday May 12, 2011

Shots - Health News

Early Drug Therapy For HIV Slashes Infection Risk

May 12, 2011 • Early treatment of the HIV-infected person with antiretroviral drugs cut the risk of HIV transmission to his or her uninfected sexual partner by 96 percent. The effect was so dramatic, an international study was halted four years early.

Early Drug Therapy For HIV Slashes Infection Risk

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Wednesday May 11, 2011

Opinion

Foreign Policy: Without Birth Control, Planet Doomed

Foreign Policy

May 11, 2011 • Predictions for the world's population rose this week to 10 billion by the end of the century. Malcolm Potts and Martha Campbell of Foreign Policy argue that the U.S. is at fault for failing to invest in family planning overseas. This could be the worst foreign policy mistake of the century.

Friday May 6, 2011

Shots - Health News

Verdict: Haiti's Cholera Outbreak Originated In U.N. Camp

May 6, 2011 • A United Nations panel finds that cholera spread quickly from a U.N. camp in the upper Artibonite River valley to waters used by tens of thousands of Haitians for bathing, washing and drinking.

Friday April 29, 2011

Tainted Pork Is Latest Food Safety Scandal In China

Pork is sold in a market in Beijing. PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Tainted Pork Is Latest Food Safety Scandal In China

April 29, 2011 • Clenbuterol, a steroid sometimes taken by athletes to burn fat and grow muscle, has sickened hundreds of Chinese consumers in recent months after they ate pork meat contaminated with it. Many are still angry about the 2008 melamine milk scandal.

Opinion

New Republic: Treating A Silent Global Epidemic

April 29, 2011 • The publicity of the fight against HIV/AIDS has eclipsed other diseases plaguing people around the globe. Jake Marcus of The New Republic argues that a new initiative to treat noncommunicable diseases like depression, cancer and obesity will do a world of good.

Tuesday April 26, 2011

Shrinking Height Of Poor Women Reflects Lack of Food, Health Care

The richest women in Guatemala were about three inches taller than the poorest. lubilub/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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lubilub/iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

Shrinking Height Of Poor Women Reflects Lack of Food, Health Care

April 26, 2011 • Measuring height gives clues to the health of nations. Many aren't measuring up. A new study finds that in 14 African countries, women are shorter than in previous generations.

In Ukraine, Scars From Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Remain Raw

Anatoly Kotlyar (left), 59, and Alexander Zenchenko, 58, are two of the thousands of "liquidators," or firefighters, who responded to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The Soviet government ordered them to the nuclear facility as first responders. Both men today complain of health problems and say Ukraine's government should be doing more to help with medical bills. David Greene/NPR hide caption

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David Greene/NPR

World

In Ukraine, Scars From Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Remain Raw

April 26, 2011 • A quarter-century after the world's worst nuclear accident, scars remain on the landscape and among the people, including firefighters exposed to radiation as they rushed to the burning reactor. The new nuclear crisis unfolding in Japan serves as another reminder of just how long recovery can take.

In Ukraine, Scars From Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Remain Raw

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Monday April 25, 2011

Using Mosquitoes To Put The Bite On Malaria

Bite me: Could malaria-infected mosquitoes protect against the disease? abadonian/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Shots - Health News

Using Mosquitoes To Put The Bite On Malaria

April 25, 2011 • Coming up with vaccine against malaria has proven to be exceedingly difficult. Dutch researchers have found some small success by "vaccinating" people with mosquito bites.