Health Top Stories
Some doubt hand washing stops H1N1
According to some experts, you can wash your hands all you want, and it won't do much to stop the spread of influenza, including the H1N1 variety. More »
Woman in embryo mix-up gives birth to boy
A woman who had the wrong embryo implanted in her gave birth to a baby boy Friday, according to a statement from the couple. More »
Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg out of hospital
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from a Washington hospital Friday, a day after being admitted with symptoms of fatigue and lightheadedness. More »
Marine breast cancer patients blame base water
The sick men are Marines, or sons of Marines. All 20 of them were based at or lived at Camp Lejeune, the U.S. Marine Corps' training base in North Carolina, between the 1960s and the 1980s. More »
Poisoned patriots? Strickened Marines Part 2
For Rick Kelly, the first sign of cancer was a feeling of discomfort in his chest. More »
Sebelius: More than enough H1N1 vaccine
There will be more than enough doses of the H1N1 vaccine to go around in the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday. More »
Southern deluge may help fall allergy sufferers
It's definitely fall: Kids are back in school, football season has kicked off, and ragweed is blooming. While autumn means cooler temperatures and colorful leaves, it also means runny noses and red eyes for millions of Americans. More »
New skin cancer therapy shrinks tumors
A new drug for melanoma has been shown to rapidly shrink malignant tumors in an early trial at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York. More »
Childhood kidney disorder has lasting effects
A kidney condition that can arise in children and was until recently believed to disappear after puberty may persist into adulthood and cause significant long-term complications, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that better treatment options are needed for children with the disorder, called minimal change nephrotic syndrome. Many children who develop minimal change nephrotic syndrome?a disorder that largely affects the blood filtering structures of the kidneys?can be successfully treated with prednisone. The cause of the syndrome is unknown but may be related to an autoimmune illness. Unfortunately, 10% to 40% of patients suffer relapses after childhood and must be treated long-term with immunosuppressive drugs. To determine the lasting health effects of minimal change nephrotic syndrome and its treatment in patients who are not cured during childhood, Henriette Kyreileis, MD, PhD (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands) and Elena Levtchenko, MD, PhD (University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium), and their colleagues studied 15 adult patients with the disease. The investigators ran a number of tests on the patients?including blood and urine analyses; semen analyses in men; x-ray exams; eye exams; and genetic tests. More »
Scientists identify genetic cause of previously undefined primary immune deficiency disease
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified a genetic mutation that accounts for a perplexing condition found in people with an inherited immunodeficiency. The disorder, called combined immunodeficiency, is characterized by a constellation of severe health problems, including persistent bacterial and viral skin infections, severe eczema, acute allergies and asthma, and cancer. The team that made the discovery was led by Helen Su, M.D., Ph.D., at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and included collaborators from NIAID and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The research is reported in this week?s New England Journal of Medicine. ?NIH clinicians have cared for people with unusual and difficult-to-treat immune disorders for decades,? says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. ?This study exemplifies their commitment to improving the lives of people with these diseases by trying to uncover the causes of these disorders and thereby better understanding how to treat them.? More »