HEALTH

China is experiencing an epidemic of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that the country virtually wiped out in the 1960s, a senior public health official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Many U.S. primary care doctors are out of step with guidelines on Pap testing for cervical cancer -- largely because they overuse the test, according to a study published Monday.

Pregnant women and other people at high risk should be vaccinated against the H1N1 swine fluvirus as the cold weather begins to bite in the northern hemisphere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Getting a patient's family history is widely regarded as a standard element of good medical care. But a report published today concludes that there isn't much good evidence that obtaining such

The hepatitis B vaccine - given to protect against infection by a virus that can cause severe liver damage and cancer - may protect for more than two decades, according to a new study.

Worried about what to do with fat you've had liposuctioned from pudgy areas? Researchers have turned it into stem cells in the lab, but here's a more immediate use: Fat liposuctioned from other parts of the body can safely be used to increase a woman's breast size, according to study findings presented this week at the Plastic Surgery 2009 meeting in Seattle.

An international team of researchers said Monday it had mapped the DNA of a domestic pig, work they say could help lead to better breeding techniques as well as improve vaccines against diseases such as swine flu.

A person's long-term risk of heart disease is better assessed by a pair of studies, as performing only one may miss a dangerous buildup of calcium in arteries, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Some of the antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections during pregnancy may increase the risk of several birth defects if a woman uses them early in pregnancy, a new study in the Archives of

Nearly a million people die from malaria each year because they cannot afford the most effective treatment and instead often buy old drugs to which the malaria parasite has become resistant, researchers said on Monday.

Up to 30 million doses of vaccine against the pandemic H1N1 flu have been delivered to the U.S. government and production is now picking up, officials said on Monday.

An outbreak of food-borne illness, linked to dangerous bacteria in ground beef, sickened 28 people and may have caused two deaths in the U.S. Northeast, health officials said on Monday.

Eating just a little bit more fiber could have a big impact in trimming the waistlines of America's young people, new research shows.

Six pigs shown at the Minnesota State Fair last month have been confirmed as having had the pandemic H1N1 flu virus, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday.

Patients taking statin drugs were almost 50 percent less likely to die from flu, researchers reported on Thursday in a study providing more evidence the cholesterol-lowering drugs help the body cope with infection.

A vaccine aid group said on Friday it was seeking $4 billion to protect as many as 130 million of the world's poorest children against diarrhea and pneumonia.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled a sweeping healthcare overhaul on Thursday that would transform the insurance market, create a government-run insurance plan and levy new taxes on the rich.

Only one dose of vaccine is needed for protection against pandemic H1N1 flu and the jabs have so far proved to be safe, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

More than 5,500 children across Africa have been given an experimental new malaria vaccine and the British drugmaker behind it, GlaxoSmithKline, promised on Wednesday that price would be no hurdle if it works.

People on the brink of developing diabetes who get a lot of support and encouragement to diet and exercise can turn things around and avoid the disease, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

People who have a compulsive urge to collect and clutter their homes with junk can partly attribute their problem to genes, a new study confirms.

Drugmakers say they are on track to deliver as much H1N1 swine flu vaccine to the United States as they promised, despite concerns over production.

Men with larger foreskins are more likely to become infected with the AIDS virus, researchers said Wednesday in a finding that helps explain why circumcision can protect men.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives released a healthcare reform bill on Thursday that includes a government-run insurance plan and imposes a tax on the wealthiest Americans to help pay for it.

First came the jibes about the U.S. government rushing out an untested swine flu vaccine. Now, critics say it is not fast enough.

U.S. researchers have found a way to coax human embryonic stem cells to turn into the types of cells that make eggs and sperm, shedding light on a stage of early human development that has not been fully understood.

Programs in the workplace designed to get people to exercise can improve fitness, cut cholesterol levels, reduce job stress and even improve attendance, a new analysis of the medical literature shows.

Childhood cancer survivors are 18 times more likely to develop thyroid cancer than the general population, UK researchers report.

Patients with non-operable head and neck cancers should be given chemo- and radiotherapy at the same time, as it more than doubles the time they live without the disease getting worse, British scientists said on Wednesday.