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Thousands of drivers on the nation's roads don't carry auto insurance, despite laws in all but two states requiring it. Critics of President Barack Obama's health overhaul plan ask: What are the chances scofflaws will treat a requirement to carry health insurance any differently?

Nearly 40 years of car insurance mandates _ which the insurance industry says have failed to make roads safer or lower auto insurance costs _ raise questions about how well such mandates work.

"Not everyone

Thailand has issued rules making sex change surgery more difficult _ including a requirement that potential candidates cross-dress for a year _ over fears that some patients are rushing into the operation, a medical association said Thursday.

Transsexuals and transgender men are a common sight in Thailand, appearing on soap operas and working at all levels of Bangkok society, from department store cosmetics counters and popular restaurants to corporate offices and red-light districts. A

China has detected eight people infected with mutated forms of the swine flu virus, a health official said Wednesday, but flu drugs and vaccines still work against it.

Flu viruses mutate easily, and scientists have been closing watching for signs that the swine flu virus is changing, which could make it more dangerous or more infectious.

Shu Yuelong, director of the Chinese National Influenza Center, told the official Xinhua News Agency that the mutated swine flu virus found in China

The virus that causes AIDS is now spreading fastest in China through heterosexual sex, a trend demanding new strategies to stave off a rebound in the epidemic after years of progress in containing it, a United Nations report said.

Data show that 40 percent of new HIV infections diagnosed in China were acquired through heterosexual contact, with homosexual sex accounting for 32 percent and most of the remainder related to drug abuse, which was previously the main source of infections and

Let us give thanks _ and pass the Purell.

Your family might be sharing more than turkey and pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. Swine flu may also be on the table _ and at crowded airports and shopping malls.

Just as the pandemic seems to be waning around the country, some health officials are worried that holiday gatherings could lead to more infections. So the government has launched a new travel-health campaign.

"It's important to remember the things that everybody can do to stay

Canadian doctors have been advised not to use a batch of 170,000 swine flu vaccines after six reports of serious allergic reactions among recipients, but there are no similar reports from other countries, pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Tuesday.

Authorities routinely monitor vaccines for any signals of problems, such as the allergic reactions that do occur, rarely, every year. Company spokeswoman Gwenan White said that GlaxoSmithKline advised medical staff in Canada ast

The number of people worldwide infected with the virus that causes AIDS _ about 33 million _ has remained virtually unchanged for the last two years, United Nations experts said Tuesday.

Officials say the global epidemic probably peaked in 1996 and that the disease looks stable in most regions, except for Africa. Last year, HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 72 percent of all 2.7 million new HIV cases worldwide.

Daniel Halperin, an AIDS expert at Harvard University,

A technology originally developed for premature babies may be helping to save some of the sickest swine flu patients by rerouting their blood so their lungs can rest.

It's a risky approach using equipment that only certain specialized hospitals have. But faced with children and young adults struggling to breathe despite ventilators has intensive-care doctors dusting off these machines, named ECMO, that they often consider last-ditch and almost never use for influenza.

"It was pretty

Schoolteacher Kinzi Blair makes only $46,000 a year, but she has what many would consider a "Cadillac" health plan, now targeted for a big tax increase by health reformers.

She has $10 copays and no deductible. She gets generic prescription drugs for $10. Her plan covers mental health counseling, organ transplants, acupuncture. It covers speech therapy for preschoolers and in vitro fertilization.

Sound pretty good?

It surely must to millions of Americans who pay high deductibles,

Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday.

When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of

Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday.

When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of

Lawmakers broke along party lines on a new aspect of the health care debate Sunday as a former National Institutes of Health chief urged women to ignore guidelines that delay the start of breast cancer screenings.

Republicans pointed to the guidelines as evidence the Democrats' proposals for a health care overhaul would yield limits on mammograms and a rationing of care. Democrats dismissed those worries and said Republicans were stoking fears without facts.

Under the Democratic plan,

The former director of the National Institutes of Health is advising women to ignore new guidelines that delay the start of routine mammogram testing for breast cancer.

Dr. Bernadine Healy says the directive would save money but not lives.

The recommendation, released last week by an independent panel, recommends that women not routinely undergo mammograms until age 50. Longtime guidelines have said women should have regular mammogram screening after age 40.

Healy says that

The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

A top Obama administration official is praising the new Senate health bill's attempt to find a compromise on abortion coverage _ even as an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.

The

Several doctors groups and advocacy groups set guidelines for cancer screening, and they update that advice periodically as new information emerges. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't. Last year, a number of groups got together and issued consensus guidelines for colon cancer.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-appointed, independent panel of doctors and scientists, also makes recommendations looked to by doctors groups, insurers and policy makers.

The latest

Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.

Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing from a corpse. Movie star Cameron Diaz posing sideways in a midriff top. Troops cowering for safety during an ambush.

A doctor tracked his stress levels and counted the number of times he blinked. Electrode wires dangled from his left eye

Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's resistant to the drug Tamiflu.

It's the first cluster of that many cases seen in the U.S.

Health officials said Friday the four cases were reported at Duke University Medical Center in Durham over the past six weeks.

Tamiflu is one of two medicines that help against swine flu. Health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs

In a Nov. 17 story about drug interactions between heartburn medications and the blood thinner Plavix, The Associated Press misidentified Johnson & Johnson's Mylanta as part of the H-2 blocker drug family. Mylanta is an antacid.

Babies squirmed and wailed as needles plunged into their chubby thighs at a public health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi on Friday. Like little ones everywhere, the reaction to the sting was never pretty.

Starting next year an extra 6.3 million children worldwide will have the chance to feel that pinch and get vaccinated against some of the world's deadliest illnesses, according to the GAVI Alliance, a global vaccine partnership that helped organize the Hanoi event.

The funding

When the nation's swine flu vaccination program began in early October, health officials predicted it was going to be "messy." They were right.

The program has been plagued with problems and information gaps:

_Health officials have been terrible at predicting when and how much vaccine would be available. Only about 44 million doses have been shipped so far. Initially, officials said more than three times that would be out by now.

_At times vaccine shipments have been inexplicably

China's health ministry said it will punish officials who underreport cases of swine flu after a doctor famous for exposing the extent of the 2003 SARS epidemic said he believes the true number of swine flu deaths is being covered up.

China's official count of swine flu cases is nearly 70,000 reported illnesses and 53 deaths, although even Beijing acknowledges the outbreak is much larger than the numbers show.

Health Ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said in a statement posted Thursday

Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.

Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing from a corpse. Movie star Cameron Diaz posing sideways in a midriff top. Troops cowering for safety during an ambush.

A doctor tracked his stress levels and counted the number of times he blinked. Electrode wires dangled from his left eye

Most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually, say new guidelines that conclude that's enough to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.

The change by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes amid a completely separate debate over when regular mammograms to detect breast cancer should begin. The timing of the Pap guidelines is coincidence, said ACOG, which began reviewing its recommendations in late 2007 and published the update Friday

When the nation's swine flu vaccination program began in early October, health officials predicted it was going to be "messy." They were right.

The program has been plagued with problems and information gaps:

_Health officials have been terrible at predicting when and how much vaccine would be available. Only about 44 million doses have been shipped so far. Initially, officials said more than three times that would be out by now.

_At times vaccine shipments have been inexplicably

The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia. High rates of obesity and diabetes were reported in more than 80 percent of counties in the Appalachian region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to the new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The same problem was seen in about 75 percent of counties in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia

Federal health experts on Thursday brushed off lingering safety questions about a popular inhaler drug and suggested it carry bolder benefit claims.

The Food and Drug Administration's panel of lung specialists voted 11-1 in favor of new labeling about the benefits of Boehringer Ingelheim's Spiriva Handihaler, which is approved to treat lung disease.

The FDA is not required to follow the group's advice though it usually does.

The German company submitted studies to the FDA showing

Health experts say extraordinary measures against swine flu _ most notably quarantines imposed by China, where entire planeloads of passengers were isolated if one traveler had symptoms _ have failed to contain the disease.

Despite initially declaring success, Beijing now acknowledges its swine flu outbreak is much larger than official numbers show.

China's official count of nearly 70,000 reported illnesses with 53 deaths is dwarfed by estimates of millions of cases with nearly 4,000

A member of the independent panel whose new mammogram recommendations have led to confusion defended the task force's report, saying Thursday that it was based on the most up-to-date, accurate information available.

Dr. Timothy Wilt, a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, stuck by its recommendation that most women don't need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50. The American Cancer Society's long-standing position has been that women should

Women should continue getting regular mammograms starting at age 40, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday, moving to douse confusion caused by a task-force recommendation two days earlier.

Sebelius issued her statement following a government panel's recommendation on Monday, that said most women don't need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50.

That recommendation was a break with the American Cancer Society's long-standing

First Lady Michelle Obama received a few gardening tips from students Wednesday as she toured a Virginia elementary school's vegetable garden.

Mrs. Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Hollin Meadows Elementary to promote the Obama administration's Healthier U.S. Schools initiative.

Students showed the first lady how they harvested lettuce from the school's extensive garden that will be used in the salad at a special Thanksgiving luncheon later this week.

"We

Lying in bed one night in 2007, Peter Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast.

"I thought, `It's a nodule, I'm a guy, I don't think it's anything more than that,'" he said. "The more I messed with it, the bigger it got and the more it hurt, and that started really scaring me."

The former Kiss drummer went to the doctor, underwent some tests and a surgical procedure to remove the lump. A week later, the doctor called. It was breast cancer.

"My heart hit

For the first time, a miniature heart pump shows the potential to become a widely used, permanent treatment for many older people with severe heart failure. But can we afford it?

In a study of 200 patients, the new device increased by four times the number who survived at least two years compared with an older pump that had drawbacks limiting its use, doctors reported Tuesday.

However, the HeartMate II costs $80,000 plus $45,000 or so for the surgery and the hospital stay necessary

You can't blame this one on McDonald's: Researchers have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies.

"We think of it as being caused by modern risk factors," such as fast food, smoking and a lack of exercise, but the findings show that these aren't the only reasons arteries clog, said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.

He and several other researchers used CT scans, a type of X-ray, on 22 mummies kept in the Egyptian

Federal health officials said Tuesday a popular variety of heartburn medications can interfere with the blood thinner Plavix, a drug taken by millions of Americans to reduce risks of heart attack and stroke.

The Food and Drug Administration said the stomach-soothing drugs Prilosec and Nexium cut in half the blood-thinning effect of Plavix, known generically as clopidogrel.

Regulators said the key ingredient in the heartburn medications blocks an enzyme the body needs to break down

Tom Dougherty jokes that he takes "get-lost walks." To his wife, Cleo, it's a constant fear: When will his Alzheimer's get bad enough that she has to end his 4-mile daily strolls?

The Irvine, Calif., woman is about to watch her husband's neighborhood meandering via computer while she works. The Alzheimer's Association is adapting technology developed for monitoring prisoners to let caregivers track where their loved ones drive or walk _ and alert them if they go beyond the virtual fences

Most women don't need a mammogram in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50, a government task force said Monday. It's a major reversal that conflicts with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position.

Also, the task force said breast self-exams do no good and women shouldn't be taught to do them.

For most of the past two decades, the cancer society has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40.

But the government panel of doctors and scientists

Tom Dougherty jokes that he takes "get-lost walks." To his wife, Cleo, it's a constant fear: When will his Alzheimer's get bad enough that she has to end his 4-mile daily strolls?

The Irvine, Calif., woman is about to watch her husband's neighborhood meandering via computer while she works. The Alzheimer's Association is adapting technology developed for monitoring prisoners to let caregivers track where their loved ones drive or walk _ and alert them if they go beyond the virtual fences

Federal health officials on Monday questioned whether to approve an updated version of Pfizer's best-selling anti-infection vaccine for children, despite company studies that failed to meet certain goals.

The Prevnar 13 vaccine reduces risk of infection by 13 varieties of pneumococcal disease, which causes ear infections, meningitis and pneumonia. The new version of the vaccine protects against six more varieties of the disease.

But Food and Drug Administration reviewers said that

Sexually spread diseases continue to rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting yet another record in 2008, government health officials said Monday.

Last year there were 1.2 million new cases of chlamydia, a sometimes symptomless infection that can lead to infertility in women. It was the most ever reported, up from the old record of 1.1 million cases in 2007.

Better screening is the most likely reason, said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Syphilis,

A new study raises fresh concerns about Zetia and its cousin, Vytorin _ drugs still taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, despite questions raised last year about how well they work.

In the study, Zetia failed to shrink buildups in artery walls while a rival drug, Niaspan, did so significantly. Zetia users also suffered more heart attacks and other problems although the numbers of these events were too small to draw firm conclusions.

Zetia "has been on the market for

A new study raises fresh concerns about Zetia and its cousin, Vytorin _ drugs still taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, despite questions raised last year about how well they work.

In the study, Zetia failed to shrink buildups in artery walls while a rival drug, Niaspan, did so significantly. Zetia users also suffered more heart attacks and other problems although the numbers of these events were too small to draw firm conclusions.

Zetia "has been on the market for

Two people in China who received swine flu vaccinations died in the past week but at least one death appears unrelated to the vaccine and the other was being investigated.

The country's health ministry reported the deaths late Friday on its Web site _ the first time China has announced deaths with potential links to the Chinese-made swine flu vaccine.

An autopsy showed one victim suffered a heart attack and, "experts have basically ruled out the possibility that the patient's sudden

Two people in China who received swine flu vaccinations died in the past week but at least one death appears unrelated to the vaccine and the other was being investigated.

The country's health ministry reported the deaths late Friday on its Web site _ the first time China has announced deaths with potential links to the Chinese-made swine flu vaccine.

An autopsy showed one victim suffered a heart attack and, "experts have basically ruled out the possibility that the patient's sudden

Federal health regulators have found tiny particles of trash in drugs made by Genzyme, the second time this year the biotechnology company has been cited for contamination issues.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that bits of steel, rubber and fiber found in vials of drugs used to treat rare enzyme disorders could cause serious adverse health effects for patients.

Despite those problems, the FDA said the products would remain on the market, because there are few alternative

Federal health officials have approved a new drug as the first non-hormonal treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding.

The Food and Drug Administration says Lysteda tablets reduce bleeding by acting on a protein that helps blood clot. The drug is made by Newport, Ky.-based Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals.

The main ingredient in the drug was first approved in 1986 as an injection for patients with hemophilia, an inheritable disease that prevents blood clotting.

The FDA warns that taking

Now that drug giant Pfizer Inc. has announced plans to pull out of a Connecticut city that was embroiled in an epic eminent domain fight, residents are questioning why the battle was ever waged.

The company said this week that it plans to close its research and development site in New London and move about 1,500 jobs to its Groton campus.

New London officials had sought a city parcel for a private development to complement a new Pfizer research facility. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled

Organizers of big sporting and cultural events should take steps to prevent the spread of swine flu, especially if local health systems aren't prepared to handle mass gatherings, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The global body said there was "ample evidence" that any unusual gathering of 1,000 people or more can help spread infectious diseases such as swine flu.

It issued an 8-page guidance document advising organizers how to reduce crowding, promote hygiene and manage

Estimates of deaths caused by the swine flu have grown to nearly 4,000 since April, roughly quadrupling previous estimates. But that doesn't mean swine flu suddenly has worsened.

Instead, the federal numbers made public Thursday reflect a long-awaited better attempt to quantify the new flu's true toll. Most cases still don't require a doctor's care.

Swine flu has sickened about 22 million Americans since April and killed about 540 children.

And it's still early in the season.

"I

Swine flu has sickened about 22 million Americans since April and killed nearly 4,000, including 540 children, according to startling federal estimates released Thursday.

The figures _ roughly a quadrupling of previous death estimates _ don't mean swine flu suddenly has worsened, and most cases still don't require a doctor's care. Instead, the numbers are a long-awaited better attempt to quantify the new flu's true toll.

"I am expecting all of these numbers, unfortunately, to continue

Cigarette smoking rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, dashing health officials' hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent.

A little under 21 percent of U.S. adults said they smoked, according to a 2008 national survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up slightly from the year before, when just 19.8 percent said they were smokers. It also is the first increase in adult smoking since 1994, experts noted.

The

U.S. health officials say the largest U.S. outbreak of mumps in three years is occurring in New York and New Jersey.

About 180 cases were identified in those two states from the time an investigation began in August through the end of October. Another 15 cases tied to the same outbreak have been reported in Canada. Three people have been hospitalized but no deaths were reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak was first reported at a boys camp

Lillian Landry always said she wasn't afraid to die. So when death came last week, the 99-year-old was lying peacefully in a hospice with no needles or tubes. Her final days saw her closest friend at her side and included occasional shots of her favorite whiskey, Canadian Mist.

Landry is an exception. Unlike most Americans, she made her end-of-life decisions years ago: no heroic measures to save her and even instructions on the bar where mourners should gather.

The health overhaul

If you're among the hundreds of thousands of Americans with clogged kidney arteries, you might want to consider trying medicines before rushing into angioplasty to open them up. The pricey procedure is no more effective and carries surprisingly big risks, a study found.

The National Kidney Foundation estimates more than 250,000 Americans have narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys. It's usually caused by a buildup of fatty plaque, mostly in folks 50 or older, and can

Male factory workers in China who got very high doses of a chemical that's been widely used in hard plastic bottles had high rates of sexual problems, researchers reported Wednesday.

Heavy exposure to BPA, or bisphenol A, on the job was linked to impotence and lower sexual desire and satisfaction, according to the study, which adds to concerns about BPA's effects on most consumers.

The men in the study experienced BPA levels about 50 times higher than those faced by typical American

Health care, a giant in the U.S. economy, may be a gentle giant when it comes to greenhouse gases.

According to the first estimate of the sector's carbon footprint, the health care industry emits less than its share of the gases that promote global warming, compared to its size in the economy.

Hospitals are the biggest offenders, a finding that may motivate more of them to audit their energy usage and plant rooftop gardens _ as one big Chicago hospital has done.

Hospitals,

The American Medical Association on Tuesday voted to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and declared that gay marriage bans contribute to health disparities.

The nation's largest doctors' group stopped short of saying it would seek to overturn marriage bans, but its new stance angered conservative activists and provides a fresh boost to lobbying efforts by gay-rights advocates.

"It's highly significant that the AMA as one of this country's leading professional associations

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.

___

People looking for natural cures will be happy to know there is one. Two words explain how it works: "I believe."

It's the placebo effect _ the ability of a dummy pill or a faked treatment

British scientists begin a new study on Tuesday to consider how human DNA is used in animal experiments and to determine what the boundaries of such controversial science might be.

Though experts have been swapping human and animal DNA for years _ like replacing animal genes with human genes or growing human organs in animals _ scientists at the Academy of Medical Sciences want to make sure the public is aware of what is happening in laboratories before proceeding further.

"It sounds

Powerful scans are letting doctors watch just how the brain changes in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion-like brain injuries _ signature damage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It's work that one day may allow far easier diagnosis for patients _ civilian or military _ who today struggle to get help for these largely invisible disorders. For now it brings a powerful message: Problems too often shrugged off as "just in your head" in fact do have physical signs,

The American Medical Association on Monday rebuffed dissident members and voted to stick with support for ongoing health reform efforts, while reiterating wariness over proposals that threaten doctors' pocketbooks and independence.

The action at the group's semiannual meeting in Houston could be seen as a vote of confidence for AMA leaders who voiced support for the $1.2-trillion, 10-year bill the U.S. House passed Saturday.

Several dissident doctor organizations within the AMA had

British scientists begin a new study on Tuesday to consider how human DNA is used in animal experiments and to determine what the boundaries of such controversial science might be.

Though experts have been swapping human and animal DNA for years _ like replacing animal genes with human genes or growing human organs in animals _ scientists at the Academy of Medical Sciences want to make sure the public is aware of what is happening in laboratories before proceeding further.

"It sounds

In its first study of women's health around the globe, the World Health Organization said Monday that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Unsafe sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women of childbearing age, with others including lack of access to contraceptives and iron deficiency, the WHO said. Throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unsafe sex, according

Powerful scans are letting doctors watch just how the brain changes in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion-like brain injuries _ signature damage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It's work that one day may allow far easier diagnosis for patients _ civilian or military _ who today struggle to get help for these largely invisible disorders. For now it brings a powerful message: Problems too often shrugged off as "just in your head" in fact do have physical signs,

The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee wants an investigation into the risk of deadly E. coli getting into school lunches.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., is worried about a recent outbreak that killed at least two people and sickened about two dozen others in 11 states.

The E. coli outbreak was linked to ground beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y.

No schools were involved in the outbreak. But Miller said he's worried that tainted food might be purchased

The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee wants an investigation into the risk of deadly E. coli getting into school lunches.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., is worried about a recent outbreak that killed at least two people and sickened about two dozen others in 11 states.

The E. coli outbreak was linked to ground beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y.

No schools were involved in the outbreak. But Miller said he's worried that tainted food might be purchased

Only about a third of adults who have tried to get a swine flu vaccine have been able to get it, according to a new national poll released Friday.

That's true even for people who are at extra risk for severe complications and should be at the front of the line. The numbers are about the same for parents who tried to get the vaccine for their children, the Harvard School of Public Health poll found.

Swine flu vaccine has been available in the United States for about a month, but supplies

Some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first to the privileged.

Hospitals, universities and the Federal Reserve Bank also got doses of the vaccine for employees who need it the most, such as pregnant women or chronically ill workers, according to the city's health department.

In order to receive the vaccine, companies

French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

The experiment marks the first time researchers have tried that long-contemplated step in people _ and the first effective gene therapy against a severe brain disease, said lead researcher Dr. Patrick Aubourg of the University

The World Health Organization's flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.

In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses being sampled, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's top flu official.

While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 _ people who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.

"We remain

Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke.

The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy's consumer health and wellness Web site, http://www.FamilyDoctor.org .

Academy CEO Dr. Douglas Henley said Wednesday that the deal won't influence the group's

A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said Wednesday, and it is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline.

The domestic shorthaired cat was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and has recovered, officials said. The virus also has been confirmed in two ferrets _ one in Oregon and the other in Nebraska _ but they died.

"We've known certainly it's possible this could happen,"

Last year pharmaceutical companies spent more than $4 billion urging patients like you to "ask your doctor" about their drugs. But if you want a prescription that won't empty your wallet, while still keeping you well, you might start asking your doctor about drugs you don't see on TV.

As unemployment continues to rise, experts estimate that 50 million Americans are without health care coverage, forcing many to bear the full cost of their prescriptions.

Compounding the problem are

A mother watched with dread as a nurse inserted a tube in her baby's head. Blood streamed into the anemic 4-month-old who already has malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills a million African children every year.

"Malaria is one of the deadliest sicknesses for children," the nurse said _ words that sent the young mother into a crumpled heap on the bed beside her wide-eyed baby boy, wrapped in a blue-and-yellow floral blanket.

There is new hope, however, in this verdant area

Nurses were training women in rural Mexico to examine their breasts for cancer when one raised her hand to object. If she lost her breast, Harvard public health specialist Felicia Knaul recalls the woman saying, "My man would leave me" _ and with him, the family's income.

International cancer specialists meet this week to plan an assault on a troubling increase of breast cancer in developing countries, where nearly two-thirds of women aren't diagnosed until it has spread through their bodies.

Adding

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.

___

Acupuncture, not pain pills that "make me loopy," is what Cynde Durnford-Branecki wants for her aching back, and a treatment costs her only a $20 copayment.

"If I didn't have insurance,

Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.

The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author

Researchers studying antibiotics in pregnancy have found a surprising link between common drugs used to treat urinary infections and birth defects. Reassuringly, the most-used antibiotics in early pregnancy _ penicillins _ appear to be the safest.

Bacterial infections themselves can cause problems for the fetus if left unchecked, experts said, so pregnant women shouldn't avoid antibiotics entirely. Instead, women should discuss antibiotics choices with their doctors.

The new study

Independent health advisers begin monitoring safety of the swine flu vaccine on Monday, an extra step the government promised in this year's unprecedented program to watch for possible side effects.

Decades of safe influenza inoculations mean specialists aren't expecting problems with the swine flu vaccine, because it's made the same way as the regular winter flu vaccine. But systems to track the health of millions of Americans are being tapped to make sure _ to spot any rare but real problems

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.

___

Future doctors and nurses are learning about acupuncture and herbs along with anatomy and physiology at a growing number of medical schools. It's another example of how alternative medicine

A senior adviser to President Barack Obama says the government will catch up to the demand for swine flu vaccine within a week.

Obama adviser David Axelrod says the manufacturers of the vaccine were wrong when they advised the administration earlier this year that they would have 40 million doses ready near the end of October. Instead, only 28 million doses of vaccine were available.

Axelrod says 10 million more doses are expected to be available this week. He predicted that the U.S.

Fidel Castro has found something to sneeze at in Washington's decision to ease visits by Cuban-Americans to his island: He says more Americans mean more swine flu.

The 83-year-old ex-president wrote in state-controlled newspapers on Saturday that many of Cuba's early cases of the virus were visitors from the United States and he used the occasion to take a jab at the U.S. embargo.

"We had the strange case where the United States on one hand authorized more trips for a large number

It was bound to happen: Some people who aren't at high risk for swine flu complications got the much-in-demand vaccine.

Sometimes they were healthy adults or senior citizens instead of kids, pregnant women and people with health problems.

Before Los Angeles County health officials stepped up screening at their flu clinics, Natalie Thompson sailed through the long line and got the vaccine along with her 8-year-old son, even though she's not in one of the priority groups.

"If

Sleepless in Seattle? Hardly. West Virginia is where people are really staying awake, according to the first government study to monitor state-by-state differences in sleeplessness. West Virginians' lack of sleep was about double the national rate, perhaps a side effect of health problems such as obesity, experts said.

Nearly 1 in 5 West Virginians said they did not get a single good night's sleep in the previous month. The national average was about 1 in 10, according to a federal health

Dutch scientists made a controversial suggestion Friday that children might be better off skipping the seasonal flu vaccine this year _ a proposal flatly rejected by other health experts.

Their commentary, based largely on animal studies, was published online Friday in the British medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. Yet many top health officials said there was no proof that children are more likely to avoid swine flu by passing on a seasonal flu shot.

"The best shot parents

With Dad a world leader and Nobel Prize winner, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could have been first in line when vaccinations began for swine flu. They weren't, the White House says. But that hasn't stopped complaints that President Barack Obama's daughters got preferential treatment.

"You definitely think there's some favoritism going on," said Vernon Stanley, who stood for hours in the snow Tuesday to get his 6-year-old granddaughter vaccinated near Salt Lake City.

Snarky comments

A new treatment for swine flu may already be on pharmacy shelves _ cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor.

A large study found that people who were taking these drugs when they caught seasonal flu and had to be hospitalized were twice as likely to survive than those who were not on such medicines.

This doesn't prove that statins can cure flu, or that starting on them after catching the flu would help. A federal study is under way now to test that. Doctors are optimistic,

With dad a world leader, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could've been first in line when swine flu vaccinations began.

The White House says they weren't.

But that hasn't stopped complaints that President Barack Obama's daughters got preferential treatment by scoring hard-to-get vaccinations.

After all, thousands of ordinary citizens have had to wait hours in line for swine flu shots, sometimes only to find that supplies ran out.

Many public health say as children, the Obama

Some of the millions who travel to Saudi Arabia next month for the annual hajj will be greeted with face masks, hand sanitizer and fever checks as health officials strive to stem the spread of swine flu during the world's largest pilgrimage.

The Saudi health ministry, aided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is setting up an emergency operations center to get real-time reports from area hospitals and clinics to track how many are sick and will need the free anti-viral

Mention swine flu to a young child, and odds are pretty good you'll get a blank stare.

But an increasing number of kids can tell you that the Sesame Street character "Elmo" sneezes properly into the crook of his arm, and if they sing the whole "ABCs" song while washing their hands they'll get them really clean. They're also well acquainted with hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial wipes _ and their germ-fighting abilities.

Children may not understand what H1N1 influenza is, but about 1

Call it a genetic patch job for worn lungs: Canadian researchers took donated lungs deemed too damaged to transplant and repaired them with outside-the-body gene therapy.

It will take lots more research to see if the fix lasts, to find out if the lungs work as well back inside a body as they do inside a see-through life-support dome in the laboratory. But the study published Wednesday has lung specialists hopeful they can boost the number of lungs available for people desperately in need.

"We've

With more than 23 million doses of swine flu vaccine now available, health officials are visiting vaccine plants to check for any more pending interruptions to what appears to be a slowly but steadily growing supply.

About 9 million doses trickled onto the market in the past week alone, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that site visits and other checks suggest production problems "have in large part been fixed."

"We are checking and double-checking,"

Medicare officials are backing off a policy that pushed many doctors to use a $2,000 injectable drug for a potentially blinding eye disorder, over a similar treatment that costs about $50.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said late Tuesday it will reverse a decision from earlier this month that cut reimbursement for Avastin, a biotech drug from Genentech.

The payment change had the effect of forcing doctors to use a similar Genentech drug called Lucentis, which costs