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Wednesday

Before Sandy Hit U.S., Storm Was A Killer In Haiti

Hurricane Sandy's tear across the Caribbean left at least 54 dead in Haiti, where many people still live in tents because of damage from the 2010 earthquake. Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Before Sandy Hit U.S., Storm Was A Killer In Haiti

Haiti had documented 54 deaths caused by Sandy — most in the nation's southern peninsula, which points toward Jamaica. Another 21 Haitians were still counted as missing, and many fear the death toll will rise as officials reach affected areas isolated by impassable roads and ruined bridges.

Malaria Drug Subsidies: Good Idea Or Wrong Path?

Dr. Esther Dalizu holds a pack of Coartem Malaria drugs in a pharmacy in Nairobi, Kenya, last year. Sayyid Azim/AP hide caption

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Sayyid Azim/AP

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Malaria Drug Subsidies: Good Idea Or Wrong Path?

A test of subsidies in Africa for the most effective malaria drug treatment is drawing fire. Supporters say the subsidies helped improve access and drive out less effective drugs. But critics say the approach is risky and a distraction from other efforts to fight the disease.

Friday

Malaria Creeps Back Into Greece Amid Health Budget Cuts

Health employees protest outside the Health Ministry in Athens against pay and budget cuts. Fewer resources for malaria treatment and mosquito control may be contributing to malaria's comeback in Greece. Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Malaria Creeps Back Into Greece Amid Health Budget Cuts

After decades of being malaria-free, Greece is seeing a spike in malaria cases. And it's showing up in communities where the disease has never been seen before. Fewer resources for mosquito control and medications are fueling the reappearance of the forgotten disease, health workers say.

Wednesday

How Does The Polio Vaccine Reach A Remote Corner Of The World?

Health workers transport the polio vaccine by donkey in southeastern Pakistan. Asad Zaidi/Courtesy of UNICEF Pakistan. hide caption

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Asad Zaidi/Courtesy of UNICEF Pakistan.

Shots - Health News

How Does The Polio Vaccine Reach A Remote Corner Of The World?

We're right on the verge of wiping out polio globally. But to do that, children in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan must be inoculated with the heat-sensitive vaccine — not once, but multiple times. Time to call in the donkeys.

Tuesday

'Addictive' Cigarette Smoking Games On Smartphones Target Kids

The iPhone app Electronic Smoke simulates smoking by detecting sound waves. When you breathe into the microphone, the virtual cigarette burns. Screenshot from Electronic Smoke. hide caption

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Screenshot from Electronic Smoke.

Shots - Health News

'Addictive' Cigarette Smoking Games On Smartphones Target Kids

Researchers have found dozens of free apps on iPhones and Androids that promote and glamorize smoking. Many of the apps target children and teens by using cartoons, celebrities and games. Health experts say these apps, downloaded by millions of people, violate bans on tobacco advertising.

Monday

HIV Finding Opens New Path For Vaccine Research

The HIV-1 virus cultivated with human lymphocytes. C. Goldsmith, P. Feorino, E. L. Palmer, W. R. McManus/CDC Public Health Image Library hide caption

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C. Goldsmith, P. Feorino, E. L. Palmer, W. R. McManus/CDC Public Health Image Library

Shots - Health News

HIV Finding Opens New Path For Vaccine Research

Researchers in South Africa tracked how the evolution of the virus in two infected woman shaped the antibodies they produced to fight it. Several months after infection, the researchers saw that the patients had developed more "broadly neutralizing antibodies," which target different versions of the virus.

Friday

Thursday

With An Army Of Vaccinators, India Subdues Polio

An Indian child receives the oral polio vaccine. Twice a year, an army of 2 million volunteers fans out across India to administer the vaccine. India has not reported a single case of polio in more than a year-and-a-half. Julie McCarthy/NPR hide caption

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Julie McCarthy/NPR

Shots - Health News

With An Army Of Vaccinators, India Subdues Polio

Despite poverty and poor sanitation, the world's second-most populous country is eradicating polio, which has afflicted India for millennia. Health officials hope India's successful war plan against polio will serve as inspiration for its archrival, Pakistan, in its own fight against the disease.

With An Army Of Vaccinators, India Subdues Polio

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Old Drug Gets A Second Look For TB Fight

Under the microscope, Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. The germs that cause TB have become resistant to many drugs. Janice Haney Carr/CDC hide caption

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Janice Haney Carr/CDC

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Old Drug Gets A Second Look For TB Fight

Adding a 12-year-old antibiotic to the regimen of patients with highly drug-resistant tuberculosis cured nearly 90 percent of patients in a study involving about 40 people in South Korea. The study, though small, suggests that the battle against the ancient scourge is far from lost.

Wednesday

How The Taliban Is Thwarting The War On Polio

Children in a Lahore slum after heavy rains. The slum has a large population of Pashtuns who came from Pakistan's lawless tribal regions; many carry the polio virus with them. Jackie Northam/NPR hide caption

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Jackie Northam/NPR

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How The Taliban Is Thwarting The War On Polio

Polio is deadly, but so is what's required to stamp it out once and for all in Pakistan: facing down Islamist extremists. The virus thrives in Pakistan's lawless — and largely inaccessible — tribal regions. To stop polio's spread, health workers must be courageous, clever and relentless.

How The Taliban Is Thwarting The War On Polio

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Tuesday

At Polio's Epicenter, Vaccinators Battle Chaos And Indifference

Sahya Idriss, a service provider at the health clinic in Minjibir, carries a vial of the polio vaccine. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

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David Gilkey/NPR

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At Polio's Epicenter, Vaccinators Battle Chaos And Indifference

Northern Nigeria is the only region in the world where the number of polio cases is on the rise. International groups have poured money and volunteers into the area to combat the disease. But vaccinators face daunting challenges — from security threats like terrorist bombings to a lack of basic resources like electricity.

At Polio's Epicenter, Vaccinators Battle Chaos And Indifference

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Monday

Wiping Out Polio: How The U.S. Snuffed Out A Killer

During the peak of the polio epidemic in the U.S., some hospital wards even had large, room-like iron lungs where multiple children lived. Courtesy of Boston Children's Hospital Archive hide caption

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Courtesy of Boston Children's Hospital Archive

Shots - Health News

Wiping Out Polio: How The U.S. Snuffed Out A Killer

During the early 20th century, polio killed thousands of American children each summer and paralyzed many more. Now, as the world fights to eradicate the virus globally, we look back at the development of the polio vaccine and its successful deployment around the world.

Wiping Out Polio: How The U.S. Snuffed Out A Killer

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Thursday

How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya

More than 90 percent of Kenyans use mobile phones, giving scientists a powerful tool to track how diseases spread. Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

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How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya

By tracking nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya, scientists mapped out how malaria spreads through the Texas-sized country. The findings pinpoint areas where efforts to control malaria would be the most effective. One day, the data may help guide alert systems for phones that remind travelers to use bed nets.

Tuesday

Debate Heats Up About Contentious Bird Flu Research

When a case of the potentially lethal H5N1 bird flu was found in British poultry in 2007, Dutch farmers were told to keep their poultry away from wild birds by closing off outdoor areas with wire mesh. Ed Oudenaarden/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Ed Oudenaarden/AFP/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Debate Heats Up About Contentious Bird Flu Research

Because of fears that lab-altered bird flu viruses could cause a deadly pandemic if they ever escaped the lab, scientists agreed to a moratorium on mutant H5N1 flu research eight months ago. Now top scientists in the field continue the debate about the work, publishing six commentaries for and against the end of the moratorium.

Friday

Arabian Coronavirus: Plot Thickens But Virus Lies Low

Different types of coronaviruses can cause a simple cold or a deadly respiratory illness, such as SARS. BSIP/UIG via Getty Images hide caption

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BSIP/UIG via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Arabian Coronavirus: Plot Thickens But Virus Lies Low

At first it seemed likely that the two known cases of illness from the new cousin-of-SARS virus may have been exposed in or near the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. But now it's pretty certain that a 49-year-old Qatari man who had traveled to Jeddah last month didn't pick up the virus there after all.