Most Popular Health News

THURSDAY, Oct. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Infliximab (Remicade) alone or in combination with azathioprine is more effective in treating Crohn's disease than azathioprine alone, researchers report.

SATURDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Acting U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Steven K. Galson recently released a "Call to Action" to reduce the number of cases of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in the United States.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A disease that has killed three people in South Africa and forced others into isolation wards may be rodent borne, a health official said Sunday, SAPA news agency reported.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers trying to find ways to transform ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells said on Sunday they found a shortcut by "sprinkling" a chemical onto the cells.

ATLANTA - One in four teen girls have rolled up their sleeves for the relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, federal health officials said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Get moving: New exercise guidelines released Tuesday set a minimum sweat allotment for good health. For most adults, that's 2 1/2 hours a week. How much physical activity you need depends largely on age and level of fitness.

MUNICH, Germany - A German farmer who received the world's first complete double arm transplant said Wednesday that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although men are at high risk of acquiring human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, most last no more than a year, about the same time this sexually transmitted disease persists in women, researchers report in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

FRIDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Patients coping with metabolic syndrome have a 75 percent higher risk for developing colorectal cancer sometime in their lives, a new study suggests.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Pregnancy has long been blamed for addling women's minds but new work by Australian researchers finds this idea may be nothing more than an old wives' tale.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A magazine cover photo of Angelina Jolie breast-feeding one of her newborn twins may have turned the superstar actress into a role model for new mothers.

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Thirty-seven people have been infected by anthrax in northern Iraq in the country's first outbreak of the disease since the 1980s, the health minister in the Kurdish autonomous region said Sunday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A disease that has killed three people in South Africa and forced others into isolation wards may be rodent borne, a health official said Sunday, SAPA news agency reported.

MUNICH, Germany - A German farmer who received the world's first complete double arm transplant said Wednesday that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again.

WASHINGTON - When drug makers made a surprise announcement this week that they no longer recommend cough and cold remedies for youngsters under 4, they didn't let on that it was the government's idea.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Exotic pets such lizards and more common animals like hamsters and hedgehogs pose a health risk to children and the elderly, a new study found Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers trying to find ways to transform ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells said on Sunday they found a shortcut by "sprinkling" a chemical onto the cells.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

SUNDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- With the transition from summer to fall, doctors note an increase in bunions among their female patients, according to the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Europeans are generally opposed to meat from cloned animals, feeling not enough is known about the long-term effects of eating it, according to an EU survey published Thursday.

MUNICH, Germany - A German farmer who received the world's first complete double arm transplant said Wednesday that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again.

CHICAGO - Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in a study of nearly 500 babies, researchers reported Monday. Placing babies on their backs to sleep is the best advice for preventing SIDS, a still mysterious cause of death.

PHILADELPHIA - Most people over 75 should stop getting routine colon cancer tests, according to a government health task force that also rejected the latest X-ray screening technology.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - While letting infants sleep on their backs has cut the danger of sudden infant death syndrome, measures as simple as using a fan or opening a window could further reduce it, according to a study published on Monday.

WASHINGTON - Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating dark chocolate regularly may help lower levels of inflammation, which is strongly associated with heart and blood vessel disease, Italian researchers report.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two French scientists who discovered the AIDS virus and a German who bucked conventional wisdom to find a virus that causes cervical cancer were awarded the 2008 Nobel prize for medicine on Monday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The herbal remedy St. John's Wort effectively treats symptoms of major depression, an analysis of previous studies found on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - One in 75 patients who gets a knee or hip replaced must get it replaced again within three years, new research finds, although the studies underscore a question: Just how much pounding can a new joint take if you want it to last?