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Monday April 18, 2011

WHO Resolves Impasse Over Sharing Of Flu Viruses, Access To Vaccines

April 18, 2011 • Vaccine manufacturers committed to setting aside at least 10 percent of the world's flu vaccine production for developing nations when the next flu pandemic strikes. Poorer countries would either get vaccine free or pay reduced prices for it.

How To Stay Out Of Measles Quarantine: Know Your Shots

Forget snakes. There could be measles on the plane. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

How To Stay Out Of Measles Quarantine: Know Your Shots

April 18, 2011 • Measles was declared eliminated in the United States more than 10 years ago, but a few cases still crop up. The biggest problem is travelers who pick up the disease overseas and bring it home.

Thursday April 14, 2011

Stillbirths Still Haunt Parents Around The World

Most of the stillbirths worldwide happen in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and at least half of them take place during labor or birth. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

Stillbirths Still Haunt Parents Around The World

April 14, 2011 • Some 2.6 million babies are born with no signs of life after 28 weeks' gestation — what's known as a stillbirth — according to a collection of papers published online this week in The Lancet. Most happen in developing countries, but they haven't gone away in wealthier nations.

Thursday April 7, 2011

Meet the enemy: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to as MRSA. Janice Haney Carr/CDC hide caption

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Janice Haney Carr/CDC

Drug-Resistant Germs: Your Day Has Come

April 7, 2011 • The World Health Organization is using the full power of its global bully pulpit today to draw attention to the growing problem of germs that are impervious to drug treatment.

Friday March 25, 2011

Tuberculosis Declines In The U.S., Affecting Mostly Those Born Overseas

Two students receive a tuberculin test in New York City, 1962. Library of Congress hide caption

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Library of Congress

Tuberculosis Declines In The U.S., Affecting Mostly Those Born Overseas

March 25, 2011 • Tuberculosis rates in 2010 were the lowest they've been since 1953 – when it first began tracking them. The disease now mainly affects people living in the U.S. who were born somewhere else.

Monday January 31, 2011

Gates Calls For More Money To Stamp Out Polio

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda French Gates and British Prime Minister David Cameron at the World Economic Forum on January 28, 2011, in Davos, Switzerland. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Gates Calls For More Money To Stamp Out Polio

January 31, 2011 • Philanthropist Bill Gates says the time is now for the world to redouble efforts to eliminate polio by funding efforts to vaccinate vulnerable people against the disease. An international initiative to wipe out the disease faces a $720 million budget shortfall.

Monday January 24, 2011

Shots - Health News

Global Health Fund Finds Some Fraud, Recoups Losses

January 24, 2011 • A big international health fund learned from an internal audit that $34 million in grants weren't reaching the people they were meant for. But an expert on health and corruption says the group is getting better at uncovering corruption and owning up to it.

Thursday January 13, 2011

Shots - Health News

To Curb Medical Arms Race, Go After Suppliers

January 13, 2011 • Older and wealthier populations that better health may drive some national demand for care. But the supply of services remains a big part of the cost problem.

Tuesday January 11, 2011

Biking Ability Can Help Diagnose Parkinson's

A Dutch man rides his bike by windmills in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands in 2007. Dutch researchers have found that the ability to ride a bike can help doctors distinguish between two similar forms of Parkinson's disease. Evert-jan Daniels/AP hide caption

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Evert-jan Daniels/AP

Shots - Health News

Biking Ability Can Help Diagnose Parkinson's

January 11, 2011 • Simple tests can sometimes tell doctors a lot. How well a person rides a bike can help differentiate two different forms of Parkinson's disease, Dutch doctors have found.

Monday January 3, 2011

Shots - Health News

Few U.S. Medical Tourists Go Overseas For Care

January 3, 2011 • Relatively few Americans head overseas for bargains in health care, University of Iowa researchers found. Foreign care may still be an inexpensive alternative for some uninsured patients, though.

Thursday December 23, 2010

Scientific American: U.S. Pig Farms May Be 'Flu Factories'

The next pandemic flu virus could come from pigs, but are we monitoring their health closely enough? Matthias Rietschel/APN hide caption

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Matthias Rietschel/APN

Shots - Health News

Scientific American: U.S. Pig Farms May Be 'Flu Factories'

December 23, 2010 • Writer Helen Branswell says in an article in Scientific American that American pig farms are virtual "flu factories" because monitoring of animal health is so weak.

Friday December 17, 2010

Health Experts: Cholera Vaccination In Haiti Not Possible Until Spring

A boy with symptoms of cholera waits for treatment at the St. Catherine hospital in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 10, 2010. Cholera has sickened more than 91,000 Haitians and killed more than 2,000. Ramon Espinosa/AP hide caption

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Ramon Espinosa/AP

Shots - Health News

Health Experts: Cholera Vaccination In Haiti Not Possible Until Spring

December 17, 2010 • There's only enough cholera vaccine for 50,000 people, so the majority of Haiti's 9 million people will have to wait until more becomes available.

U.K. Health Maps Show A Shared Problem Across The Pond

In Oxford, England, people are 16 times more likely to get a particular kind of hip replacement than residents of London. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

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Wikimedia Commons

Shots - Health News

U.K. Health Maps Show A Shared Problem Across The Pond

KFF Health News

December 17, 2010 • Now researchers in the U.K. are using maps to study variations in the way health services are delivered. The approach, pioneered at Dartmouth in the U.S., shows that the care provided can be quite different even when doctors are paid salaries.

Tuesday December 14, 2010

End To Malaria Deaths In Sight, But Progress Is Fragile

Two sisters rest under a mosquito net during a July monsoon rain in Prey Mong kol village in Cambodia's Pailin province. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images AsiaPac hide caption

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Paula Bronstein/Getty Images AsiaPac

Shots - Health News

End To Malaria Deaths In Sight, But Progress Is Fragile

December 14, 2010 • Wider use of bed nets and spraying against mosquitoes have helped to drive down malaria infections and deaths. Better medicines to treat the illness have also helped, but public health officials worry about resistance to them.

Monday December 13, 2010

Lay Therapists In India Can Make A Difference In Mental Illness

Children light candles to observe India's first National Mental Health Awareness Day, in New Delhi on Aug. 6. Anupam Nath/AP hide caption

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Anupam Nath/AP

Shots - Health News

Lay Therapists In India Can Make A Difference In Mental Illness

December 13, 2010 • A study in The Lancet suggests some mental illnesses in developing countries may be easier to tackle than previously thought. What may help most of all are therapists with minimal training.