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Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought. Same goes for soda. Until now, the only way to find out what people in the United States eat and how many calories they consume has been government data, which can lag behind the rapidly expanding and changing food marketplace. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are trying to change that by creating a gargantuan map of what foods Americans are buying and eating. Part of the...

Sunbathers headed to the beach this summer will find new sunscreen labels on store shelves that are designed to make the products more effective and easier to use. But despite those long-awaited changes, many sunscreens continue to carry SPF ratings that some experts consider misleading and potentially dangerous, according to a consumer watchdog group. A survey of 1,400 sunscreen products by the Environmental Working Group finds that most products meet new federal requirements put in place last...

Los Angeles politicians have struggled for more than five years to regulate medical marijuana, trying to balance the needs of the sick against neighborhood concerns that pot shops attract crime. Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide how Los Angeles should handle its high with three competing measures that seek to either limit the number of dispensaries or allow new ones to open and join an estimated several hundred others that currently operate. Election Day in the nation's second-largest...

Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought. Same goes for soda. Until now, the only way to find out what people in the United States eat and how many calories they consume has been government data, which can lag behind the rapidly expanding and changing food marketplace. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are trying to change that by creating a gargantuan map of what foods Americans are buying and eating. Part of the...

While soaking up the rays in what's been an unusually sunny season, Portlanders have broken away from their polite chatter about food, wine and outdoor adventure to fight about whether to fluoridate the water supply. Supporters and opponents of public fluoridation have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of a Tuesday election that has drawn heavy attention from the city's mainstream and alternative newspapers. Campaign signs have sprouted alongside roses on lawns across the city, as...

A Los Angeles doctor was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison for bilking patients out of more than $1 million by promising them that an herbal supplement she hawked could cure late-stage cancer and other diseases. U.S. District Judge Robert Timilin also ordered Dr. Christine Daniel to forfeit $1,277,083. Daniel, 58, was found guilty of 11 counts, including wire fraud, tax evasion and witness tampering in September 2011. She enticed patients to take her herbal product and charged...

In a story May 17 about a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation on a blood alcohol threshold for drivers, The Associated Press incorrectly reported the definition of a drink. The standard definition of a drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof alcohol. A corrected version of the story is below: Tougher drunken driving threshold recommended US officials recommend lowering drunken driving threshold to .05 blood alcohol to save lives By JOAN LOWY...

The World Health Organization says a yellow fever booster vaccination given 10 years after the initial shot isn't necessary. The U.N.'s global health agency said Friday that its expert group on immunization believes a single dose of vaccination is sufficient to confer lifelong immunity against the disease. The Geneva-based body says only 12 known cases of yellow fever after vaccination have ever been identified. Some 600 million doses have been dispensed since yellow fever vaccination began in...

It's one thing to legalize marijuana. It's another to figure out how to sell it, grow it, regulate it, test it and tax it. Voters in Washington state and Colorado made pot use for adults over 21 legal last fall, but that was just the first step. On Thursday, Washington officials are expected to release the first draft of rules governing the state's new marijuana industry. Washington's Liquor Control Board has been devising rules for the industry, covering topics such as how the plants will...

Angelina Jolie's mother had breast cancer and died of ovarian cancer, and her maternal grandmother also had ovarian cancer _ strong evidence of an inherited, genetic risk that led the actress to have both of her healthy breasts removed to try to avoid the same fate, her doctor said Wednesday. Jolie, 37, revealed on Tuesday that she carries a defective BRCA1 gene that puts her at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. She had mastectomies in February followed by reconstruction with...

When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded clinic in Northern California's wine country that covers all her medical needs. Her care and the medical services for her children and grandchildren are paid for as part of the government's treaty obligations to American Indian tribes dating back nearly a century. But under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, DeRouen and tens of thousands of...

President Barack Obama is planning a mental health conference next month in response to gun violence. Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to host the conference June 3 at the White House. Carney said attendees will include mental health advocates, health care providers, faith leaders, government officials, educators and people who have experienced mental health problems. Carney said they will discuss how to reduce the stigma for those struggling with...

States should cut their threshold for drunken driving by nearly half_ from .08 blood alcohol level to .05_matching a standard that has substantially reduced highway deaths in other countries, a federal safety board recommended Tuesday. That's about one drink for a woman weighing less than 120 pounds, two for a 160-pound man. More than 100 countries have adopted the .05 alcohol content standard or lower, according to a report by the staff of the National Transportation Safety Board. In Europe,...

One of the world's most glamorous women had an operation that once was terribly disfiguring _ removal of both breasts. But new approaches are dramatically changing breast surgeries, whether to treat cancer or to prevent it as Angelina Jolie just chose to do. As Jolie said, "the results can be beautiful." Jolie revealed on Tuesday that she had a double mastectomy and reconstruction with implants because she carries a gene mutation that puts her at high risk of developing breast cancer. For women...

A surprising new report questions public health efforts to get Americans to sharply cut back on salt, saying it's not clear whether eating super-low levels is worth the struggle. Make no mistake: Most Americans eat way too much salt, not just from salt shakers but because of sodium hidden inside processed foods and restaurant meals. Tuesday's report stresses that, overall, the nation needs to ease back on the sodium for better heart health. But there's no good evidence that eating very low levels...

An elderly Swiss woman who would rather end her life now than decline further in health found sympathy Tuesday from the European Court of Human Rights, which called on the Swiss to clarify their laws on so-called passive assisted suicide. The Strasbourg, France-based court said Switzerland must specify whether its laws are meant to include people not suffering from terminal illnesses and, if so, spell out the conditions under which they can end their lives. Alda Gross, a woman in her early 80s...

The Indian government announced Tuesday the development of a new low-cost vaccine proven effective against a diarrhea-causing virus that is one of the leading causes of childhood deaths across the developing world. The Indian manufacturer of the new rotavirus vaccine pledged to sell it for $1 a dose, a significant discount from the cost of the current vaccines on the market. That reduced price would make it far easier for poor countries to vaccinate their children against the deadly virus, health...

New research is raising fresh concern that an age-old treatment for troubled pregnancies _ bed rest _ doesn't seem to prevent premature birth, and might even worsen that risk. Doctors have known for years that there's no good evidence that bed rest offers any benefit for certain pregnancy complications, and it can cause side effects in the mother, not to mention emotional and financial strain. Yet estimates suggest nearly 1 in 5 moms-to-be is told to cut her activity _ ranging from quitting work...

The Obama administration on Monday filed a last-minute appeal to delay the sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill to girls of any age without a prescription. The legal paperwork asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to postpone a federal judge's ruling that eliminated age limits on the pill while the government appeals that overall decision. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman has said politics was behind efforts by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen...

U.S. health officials say last year was the worst ever for West Nile virus deaths. The final tally reported Monday was 286 deaths _ or two more than the record set in 2002. But there were far fewer illnesses overall, and fewer serious cases than in previous years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had predicted it would be a bad year because of weather conditions that promote breeding of the mosquitoes that spread the virus to people. The CDC report Monday showed Texas had nearly...

Berlin's renowned Charite hospital said Monday it plans to investigate allegations that patients in communist East Germany were used as unwitting guinea pigs in medical trials for Western drug companies. Claims that the dictatorship allowed tests that would have been considered unethical or even illegal in the West were first made shortly after German reunification in 1990, but no wrongdoing was found at the time. The issue surfaced again this week after German weekly Der Spiegel reported that...

Cancer patients could face high costs for medications under President Barack Obama's health care law, industry analysts and advocates warn. Where you live could make a huge difference in what you'll pay. To try to keep premiums low, some states are allowing insurers to charge patients a hefty share of the cost for expensive medications used to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other life-altering chronic diseases. Such "specialty drugs" can cost thousands of dollars...

The government is running out of time to try to halt implementation of a federal judge's ruling that would lift age restrictions for women and girls wanting to buy the morning-after pill. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn last week refused to delay enforcement of his month-old decision while the government challenges his ruling, but said it would have until Monday to appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. Korman said politics is behind efforts by Secretary of...

The latest weapon in the U.N.'s fight against hunger, global warming and pollution might be flying by you right now. Edible insects are being promoted as a low-fat, high-protein food for people, pets and livestock. According to the U.N., they come with appetizing side benefits: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and livestock pollution, creating jobs in developing countries and feeding the millions of hungry people in the world. Some edible insect information in bite-sized form: WHO EATS INSECTS...

Two respiratory viruses in different parts of the world have captured the attention of global health officials _ a novel coronavirus in the Middle East and a new bird flu spreading in China. Last week, the coronavirus related to SARS spread to France, where one patient who probably caught the disease in Dubai infected his hospital roommate. Officials are now trying to track down everyone who went on a tour group holiday to Dubai with the first patient as well as all contacts of the second patient....

France has confirmed a second case of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS, authorities said Sunday, as they increased efforts to inform the public about how to avoid the illness and watch for its signs. A hospital roommate of the 65-year-old man who initially contracted the virus tested positive for the illness. The second patient's condition has deteriorated, requiring treatment in intensive care, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said at a news conference. The minister added that the...

France's health minister says tests on three suspected cases of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS are negative _ but a fourth needs complementary tests and a fifth suspected case has been discovered. Marisol Touraine said test results of the two remaining suspicious cases _ people who had close contact with France's only confirmed case _ should be known later Saturday. The minister spoke in the northern city of Lille where a 65-year-old man who contracted the virus is hospitalized....

A new report shows 200 people who dined at one of Las Vegas' most popular restaurants about a block off the Strip have reported food poisoning symptoms, making it the largest outbreak southern Nevada health officials have seen in at least a decade. Sick patrons who dined at Firefly, a tapas restaurant on Paradise Road, in late April hailed from 20 different states and two foreign countries, according to a report released Friday by the Southern Nevada Health District. There are likely many more...

The government has halted a study testing treatments for a brain condition that can cause strokes after early results suggested invasive therapies were riskier than previously thought. The condition involves a kind of tangle in the brain called an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM. Arteries and veins grow knotted together until eventually some of them burst, causing a bleeding stroke. AVM accounts for a small fraction of hemorrhagic strokes. But increasingly, brain scans can spot these tangles...

The federal government has approved Utah to become the first state to have a dual-model health insurance exchange in which the state and the federal government divide responsibilities. The plan allows Utah to continue to run its existing health insurance marketplace for small businesses, a system that lets employees pick health care plans in an online exchange. The federal government will run the state's individual exchange. The two marketplaces will operate independently of each other. Gov....

In a surprise move Friday, federal health regulators denied a request by Endo Health Solutions to block generic versions of its painkiller Opana ER, which the company argued are more easily abused than its branded product. Endo's Opana ER is a long-acting narcotic drug used to treat moderate and severe pain. Such medications are frequently crushed and then injected or snorted by drug abusers to achieve a euphoric effect. Last year Endo reformulated Opana with the aim of making the pills more...

Caught between nervous Democrats and emboldened Republicans, President Barack Obama on Friday stepped up the sales pitch on his health care overhaul as the final elements of his top domestic achievement go into effect. With his legacy and the law's success at stake, Obama said: "The law is here to stay." Behind the scenes, the White House readied a campaign-style effort to get healthy young people to sign up for the insurance "exchanges" in order to keep premium costs from skyrocketing. On Capitol...

Years of progress fighting cholesterol might have stalled with the recession, says a huge study from one of the country's largest health laboratories. Americans' cholesterol levels have significantly improved over the past few decades, because of changes in diet and use of cholesterol-lowering medications. Still, heart disease is the nation's leading killer. Researchers with health laboratory giant Quest Diagnostics took a closer look at LDL cholesterol, the so-called bad kind. They analyzed...

A judge on Friday refused to delay enforcement of his decision giving women of all ages broad access to morning-after birth control, calling the government's appeal frivolous, a "silly argument" and an insult to the intelligence of women. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn did agree to postpone implementation of his month-old decision until Monday to give the government time to appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. "Indeed, in my view, the defendants' appeal...

French health officials said Friday they are investigating three suspected cases of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS, in people who had close contact in the hospital with France's only confirmed case. Beatrice Degrugillers, a spokeswoman for the regional health agency in France's Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, said a nurse at the hospital where the man was hospitalized in late April has herself been under watch at the hospital in Douai since Thursday night. A doctor and a former hospital...

A California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it broad authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, potentially shielding the public from seeing how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. The degree of secrecy afforded Covered California appears unique among states attempting to establish their own health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's signature health law. An Associated Press review...

A judge has ordered the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center to pay nearly $60,000 to a Winston man who was wrongly diagnosed with brain cancer and told he had just a few months to live. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy wrote that the distress Mark Templin and his family suffered was caused by Dr. Patrick Morrow's "negligent failure to meet the standard of care" in delivering the diagnosis in 2009. Molloy's decision noted that in the months Templin believed he was dying he quit his job, sold his...

Spending on prescription medicines in the U.S. fell for the first time in decades last year, slipping as cash-strapped consumers continued to cut back on use of health care services. Patients also benefited from a surge of new, inexpensive generic versions of widely used drugs for chronic conditions like high cholesterol, according to a new report. Total spending on medications dipped 1 percent, to $325.8 billion last year from $329.2 billion in 2011. Likewise, average spending per person on...

A medical examiner says a Tucson climber founded dead, hanging from a southern Arizona cliff in his climbing gear, died from venom from bee stings. Steven Johnson had hundreds of bee stings when found Monday in the Santa Rita Mountains. And the Arizona Daily Star ( http://bit.ly/13CNojn ) reports that Dr. Gregory Hess says venom killed Johnson. The 55-year-old was last seen Friday when he went hiking, and a search began Monday when friends got worried because he didn't go to work. Searchers...

A Food and Drug Administration investigation into the safety of caffeine-added foods has prompted Wrigley to take its new caffeinated gum off the market for the time being. Wrigley said Wednesday that it will temporarily halt sales and marketing of Alert caffeinated gum after discussions with the FDA. President Casey Keller said the company made the move "out of respect" for the agency, which said it would investigate the health effects of added caffeine on children and adolescents just as Wrigley...

For the first time, the government is publicly revealing how much hospitals charge, and the differences are astounding: Some bill tens of thousands of dollars more than others for the same treatment, even within the same city. Why does a joint replacement cost 40 times as much at one hospital as at another across the country? It's a mystery, federal health officials say. "It doesn't make sense," Jonathan Blum, Medicare deputy administrator, said Wednesday. The higher charges don't reflect better...

Using mobile health technology to monitor patients in poor urban areas could improve residents' access to health care while also reducing health care spending, a study conducted in a Rio de Janeiro hillside "favela" slum suggested Wednesday. The study, by the New Cities Foundation, looked at the effects of bringing state-of-the-art health care diagnostic tools to sick and elderly residents of Rio's Dona Marta favela, an underserved shantytown up a steep hill from most conventional health care...

Wrigley says it is taking a new caffeinated gum off the market temporarily as the Food and Drug Administration investigates the safety of added caffeine. The company said Wednesday that it has stopped new sales and marketing of Alert Energy Caffeine Gum "out of respect" for the agency. The FDA said it would investigate added caffeine in foods just as Wrigley rolled out Alert late last month. A stick of the gum is equivalent to half a cup of coffee. Wrigley North America President Casey Keller...

First lady Michelle Obama says her campaign to improve young people's health is about the government providing information, not "telling people what to do." Mrs. Obama explained her "Let's Move" initiative in an interview broadcast Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show. The first lady for the past three years has been pushing a program aimed at improving childhood health and she has been urging the young to develop better eating habits. Mrs. Obama visited Mississippi earlier this year, taking her...

Weight-loss surgery such as the type that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie underwent may not just improve people's waistlines, but their health. Obesity causes or worsens myriad health problems, from diabetes to heart disease, severe sleep apnea to arthritic knees. Christie has revealed that after struggling with his weight for 20 years and the reality check of turning 50, the desire to be healthy for his four children motivated him to have an operation called stomach banding. "He's doing the right...

A new genetic test to gauge the aggressiveness of prostate cancer may help tens of thousands of men each year decide whether they need to treat their cancer right away or can safely monitor it. The new test, which goes on sale Wednesday, joins another one that recently came on the market. Both analyze multiple genes in a biopsy sample and give a score for aggressiveness, similar to tests used now for certain breast and colon cancers. Doctors say tests like these have the potential to curb a major...

A 65-year-old Frenchman is hospitalized after contracting France's first case of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS, and French health authorities said Wednesday they are trying to find anyone who might have been in contact with him to prevent it from spreading. It's unclear how or where the man was infected with the novel coronavirus, which has killed 18 people and raised new public health concerns since being identified last year in the Middle East. It can cause acute pneumonia and...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who is seen as a possible presidential candidate for 2016, said Tuesday that he underwent a procedure in February to have a band implanted around his stomach in February in an effort to lose weight. A look at the procedure, his decision, and what it might mean: ___ THE SURGERY Christie says he decided around the time he turned 50 on Sept. 6 that he wanted to have the procedure. It was originally scheduled for November but pushed back to February...

A new genetic test to gauge the aggressiveness of prostate cancer may help tens of thousands of men each year decide whether they need to treat their cancer right away or can safely monitor it. The new test, which goes on sale Wednesday, joins another one that recently came on the market. Both analyze multiple genes in a biopsy sample and give a score for aggressiveness, similar to tests used now for certain breast and colon cancers. Doctors say tests like these have the potential to curb...

Gov. Chris Christie, who once famously called himself "the healthiest fat guy you've ever seen," disclosed Tuesday he had secretly undergone weight-loss surgery, a major new step by the potential Republican presidential contender to address both his health and a political vulnerability. The stakes are high for Christie, with medical professionals and campaign strategists alike suggesting there is no more serious barrier to his personal well-being and national ambitions than his weight. It's not...

Jurors will have to decide if a former endoscopy clinic owner and employees knew they were committing a crime, or if they simply made mistakes when seven of their patients became infected with incurable hepatitis C in 2007 _ including one patient who later died, defense attorneys said Tuesday. The defense used opening statements to cast the trial of former Dr. Dipak Desai as complicated and his client as the underdog against state court prosecutors in a community shocked when health officials...

In a story May 6 about proposed regulations for tanning beds, The Associated Press reported erroneously that an FDA proposal would not require warnings on tanning beds themselves, but on related promotional materials. The proposal, if finalized, would require warning labels on tanning beds within a year of taking effect. A corrected version of the story is below: FDA wants cancer warnings on tanning beds FDA proposes cancer warnings on tanning beds and more safety requirements for manufacturers...

Weight-loss surgery such as the type that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie underwent may not just improve people's waistlines, but their health. Obesity causes or worsens myriad health problems, from diabetes to heart disease, severe sleep apnea to arthritic knees. Christie has revealed that after struggling with his weight for 20 years and the reality check of turning 50, the desire to be healthy for his four children motivated him to have an operation called stomach banding. "He's doing the right...

More than 1 million babies die the day they are born every year, and the 14 countries with the highest rates of first-day deaths are all in Africa, according to a new report released Tuesday. Somalia, Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic are the five countries with the highest rates of such deaths, according to the report "Surviving the First Day" from the aid group Save the Children. "Health care for mothers in sub-Saharan Africa is woefully insufficient. On average, only half...

Indoor tanning beds would come with new warnings about the risk of cancer and be subject to more stringent federal oversight under a proposal unveiled Monday by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has regulated tanning beds and sun lamps for over 30 years, but for the first time ever the agency says those devices should not be used by people under age 18. The agency wants that warning on pamphlets, catalogues and websites that promote indoor tanning. And regulators are also proposing that...

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that cities and counties can ban medical marijuana dispensaries, a decision likely to further diminish the network of storefront pot shops and fuel efforts to have the state regulate the industry. In a unanimous opinion, the court held that California's medical marijuana laws _ the nation's first and most liberal _ neither prevent local governments from using their land-use powers to zone dispensaries out of existence nor grant authorized users convenient...

Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill. In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra to patients on its website. Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill on viagra.com, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra's...

U.S. health regulators are warning doctors and women of child-bearing age that half-a-dozen medications used to treat migraine headaches can decrease children's intelligence if taken while their mothers are pregnant. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that the drugs, including Depakote and Depacon, should never be taken by pregnant women for the prevention of migraine headaches. The pills, which all contain the ingredient valproate sodium, already carry a boxed warning about the risk...

Peter Nguyen was a promising medical student when his school learned that he had tested positive for the hepatitis B virus. He said he was blackballed by school administrators and forced to halt his studies. "I knew the stigma" that came with a hepatitis diagnosis, Nguyen said. But he thought that a medical school, of all places, would understand. "I came there expecting help. Instead, I was greeted with discrimination." Nguyen's prospects of becoming a physician are a lot brighter today. The...

The Man Nyon Pharmacy is lined with rows of colorful packages containing everything from dried bear bile and deer antler elixir to tiger bone paste and ginseng. But the ancient "Koryo" medicine provided at this popular dispensary isn't just for minor aches and pains. It has been integrated into the health system from the smallest village clinic all the way up to the nicest showcase hospitals in the privileged capital of Pyongyang. Both modern and traditional styles of healing have long been uniquely...

Allison Guarino understands the controversy over new rules allowing 15-year-olds to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription. But as someone who teaches pregnancy prevention to ninth-graders in Boston, she thinks lowering the age will "help the girls who need the help the most." "Some girls might not have a good relationship with their parents," she said, "or they had unprotected sex and they don't know what to do." On the other side of the issue are folks like Brenda Velasco Ross, who...

Thousands of people with serious medical problems are in danger of losing coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul because of cost overruns, state officials say. At risk is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, a transition program that's become a lifeline for the so-called uninsurables _ people with serious medical conditions who can't get coverage elsewhere. The program helps bridge the gap for those patients until next year, when under the new law insurance companies...

Women have another reason to exercise: It may help prevent kidney stones. You don't have to break a sweat or be a super athlete, either. Even walking for a couple hours a week can cut the risk of developing this painful and common problem by about one-third, a large study found. "Every little bit makes a difference" and the intensity doesn't matter _ just getting a minimum amount of exercise does, said Dr. Mathew Sorensen of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. He led the...

Thousands of people with serious medical problems are in danger of losing coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul because of cost overruns, state officials say. At risk is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, a transition program that's become a lifeline for the so-called "uninsurables" _ people with serious medical conditions who can't get coverage elsewhere. The program helps bridge the gap for those patients until next year, when under the new law insurance companies...

Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry has confirmed three more cases of a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 10 the number of cases it reported this week, including five deadly ones. The ministry said Friday the three cases were part of an ongoing investigation. It said the two men and one woman were aged between 33 and 53. Their symptoms first appeared over the past week. The germ is from a family of viruses that cause the common cold, as well as SARS _ the severe acute respiratory...

Ireland's Roman Catholic leaders appealed to the public Friday to lobby their lawmakers to reject a bill that would permit abortions deemed necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, a measure long ordered by Irish and European courts. In a joint statement, Ireland's bishops, archbishops and lone cardinal described the bill, unveiled this week after decades of debate, as "a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law." They argued it would be most grievously wrong to give any...

President Barack Obama said Thursday he was comfortable with his administration's decision to allow over-the-counter purchases of a morning-after pill for anyone 15 and older. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday had lowered the age at which people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 _ younger than the current limit of 17. The FDA decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters. Obama,...

It's a chemical that's been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby's basinet. But federal health regulators are just now deciding whether triclosan _ the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75 percent of antibacterial liquid soaps and body washes sold in the U.S. _ is ineffective, or worse, harmful. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to deliver a review this...

The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 percent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the government reported Thursday. The trend was most pronounced among white men and women in that age group. Their suicide rate jumped 40 percent between 1999 and 2010. But the rates in younger and older people held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged blacks, Hispanics and most other racial and ethnic groups, the report from...

Parents are reporting more skin and food allergies in their children, a big government survey found. Experts aren't sure what's behind the increase. Could it be that children are growing up in households so clean that it leaves them more sensitive to things that can trigger allergies? Or are mom and dad paying closer attention to rashes and reactions, and more likely to call it an allergy? "We don't really have the answer," said Dr. Lara Akinbami of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...

A European Union prosecutor in Kosovo says a new probe into illegal organ trafficking has begun just days after five people were found guilty of running a criminal ring that lured poor people from Eastern Europe into selling their kidneys to rich recipients. Prosecutor Jonathan Ratel said Thursday that evidence emerged during the trial of seven citizens, five of whom were convicted this week of performing 24 illegal kidney transplants in a private clinic. He said there could be more suspects....

Parents are reporting more skin and food allergies in their children, a big government survey found. Experts aren't sure what's behind the increase. Could it be that children are growing up in households so clean that it leaves them more sensitive to things that can trigger allergies? Or are mom and dad paying closer attention to rashes and reactions, and more likely to call it an allergy? "We don't really have the answer," said Dr. Lara Akinbami of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...

The Obama administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge's order to lift all age limits on who can buy morning-after birth control pills without a prescription. In appealing the ruling, the administration recommitted itself to a position Obama took during his re-election campaign that younger teens shouldn't have unabated access to emergency contraceptives, despite the insistence by physicians groups and much of his Democratic base that the pill should be readily available. A day earlier,...

Only six insurance carriers have told the state of Illinois they want to sell a combined 165 health policies on the state's online insurance marketplace under the nation's new health care law _ numbers far lower than expected, raising concerns the trend will hold true across the country. Fewer health plans could mean less competition and possibly higher premium prices. Officials in President Barack Obama's home state had anticipated some 260 health plans would be offered by 16 different insurance...

The Justice Department is appealing a judge's decision lifting all age limits on the Plan B morning-afer birth control pill and a cheaper generic. The federal government says the judge who issued the ruling had exceeded his authority and that his decision should be suspended while the appeal is underway. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York had given the Food and Drug Administration until Monday to lift all age limits on Plan B and cheaper generic. The judge mandated that emergency contraception...

Authorities were investigating a valley fever outbreak that sickened 28 workers at solar power plants under construction in Central California. State public health and work safety staff visited sites in San Luis Obispo County two months ago, the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/10TMNwA ) reported Tuesday. They were investigating valley fever illnesses among workers building the Topaz Solar Farm and California Valley Solar Ranch. California also is trying to stem a valley fever outbreak that...

Ireland unveiled a long-awaited bill Wednesday that lays down new rules governing when life-saving abortions can be performed, a point of potentially lethal confusion for women in a country that outlaws terminations. Prime Minister Enda Kenny, speaking to reporters after his government published the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, said he hoped the coming weeks of debate would not turn bitter. But he warned Catholic conservatives within his own party to back the bill or be expelled....

A New York City elementary school has adopted an all-vegetarian menu, serving kids tofu wraps and veggie chili. Public School 244 is the first public school in the city to go all-veggie. The animal-welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it might be the first all-veggie public elementary school in the nation. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott says he's proud of the "trailblazing" school. The Queens school has 400 students in pre-kindergarten through third grade. It wanted...

After a storm of complaints, the Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled simplified forms to apply for insurance under the president's new health care law. You won't have to lay bare your medical history but you will have to detail your finances. An earlier version of the forms had provoked widespread griping that they were as bad as tax forms and might overwhelm uninsured people, causing them to give up in frustration. The biggest change: a five-page short form that single people can fill out....

For people seeking an energy boost, companies are increasing their offerings of foods with added caffeine. A new caffeinated gum may have gone too far. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it will investigate the safety of added caffeine and its effects on children and adolescents. The agency made the announcement just as Wrigley was rolling out Alert Energy Gum, a new product that includes as much caffeine as a half a cup of coffee in one piece and promises "the right energy, right...

Already facing a potential contempt order, Gov. Jerry Brown now must leap another hurdle to meet a court-ordered deadline this week to say how he will reduce crowding in California prisons. The federal official who controls medical care in California prisons on Monday ordered thousands of high-risk inmates out of two Central Valley prisons in response to dozens of deaths due to Valley fever, which is caused by an airborne fungus. The order came four days before the administration's midnight Thursday...

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it was investigating foods that have added caffeine after Wrigley introduced a new caffeinated gum this week. A few products that have added caffeine: _ Wrigley Alert Energy Gum contains about 40 milligrams a piece, or the equivalent amount found in half a cup of coffee. _ Jelly Belly Extreme Sport Beans have 50 mg of caffeine in a 100-calorie pack. _ Arma Energy Snx markets chips, trail mix and other products that contain caffeine, including...

Two staff members who violated discharge policies at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital were fired Monday and three others are being disciplined following an investigation into busing patients to other states, the governor's office and agency officials said Monday. The Department of Health and Human Services said another four people who were involved no longer work at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital. Gov. Brian Sandoval earlier in the day announced the firings and said his administration is looking...

The federal official who controls medical care in California prisons on Monday ordered thousands of high-risk inmates out of two Central Valley prisons in response to dozens of deaths due to Valley fever, which is caused by an airborne fungus. Medical receiver J. Clark Kelso ordered the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to exclude black, Filipino and other medically risky inmates from Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons because those groups are more susceptible to the fungal infection,...

Gilead Sciences Inc. said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration rejected two marketing applications for HIV treatments, citing quality control problems at the company's manufacturing facilities. The FDA informed the company in a letter that it cannot approve its HIV pills elvitegravir and cobicistat for use in managing the virus that causes AIDS. The agency noted that in recent inspections regulators have found problems with documentations and quality testing at Gilead Sciences' facilities....

A hospital says a Turkish woman who became the first person to successfully receive a donor womb is six weeks into a "healthy" pregnancy. Derya Sert was born without a womb and had one transplanted in August 2011. Using one of her own eggs, doctors placed an embryo into the 22-year-old's womb in March. A statement from Akdeniz University Hospital on Monday said doctors have monitored a fetal heartbeat and that the pregnancy is going well.?? A successful birth would provide hope for women who...

Chinese health officials say the 4-year-old son of a man infected with a new strain of bird flu has also caught the virus. Shandong province's health department says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and that the boy is in stable condition at a hospital. The Jinan Times newspaper says the boy's 36-year-old father had no direct contact with poultry, but that the family lives near a market that sells live poultry. The H7N9 virus has infected 126 people in China, killing 23 of...

Following New York City's lead, state lawmakers have taken up the cause to raise the minimum age for cigarette purchases from 18 to 21 statewide. State Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal announced the legislation at a news conference Sunday in New York City. The bill was introduced on Friday. If passed, New York would become the first state to raise the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21. Four states and some communities have increased the age to 19, and at least two towns have...

The U.S. government sued Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. again on Friday, saying it paid kickbacks for a decade to doctors to steer patients toward its drugs, sometimes disguising fishing trips off the Florida coast and trips to Hooters restaurants as speaking engagements for the doctors. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan came two days after the government brought a similar lawsuit against Novartis, which is based in East Hanover, N.J. The first lawsuit said the company paid kickbacks...

The federal agency that oversees Medicaid and Medicare compliance has put Nevada on notice of "serious deficiencies" at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital following reports of patients being improperly discharged. A letter Thursday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, first reported by The Sacramento Bee and obtained Friday by The Associated Press, gave Nevada 10 days to correct problems in its mental health discharge policies at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital or risk the loss...

Large specialty pharmacies like the one that triggered a deadly meningitis outbreak last year would be subject to federal safety inspections and manufacturing standards under a new Senate proposal introduced Friday. The draft bill is the first Senate effort to address the recent outbreak tied to contaminated compounded drugs that sickened more than 700 Americans and killed more than 50 others. The wave of deadly fungal infections was identified in September and linked to a large Massachusetts...

Cost of amputating a leg? At least $20,000. Cost of an artificial leg? More than $50,000 for the most high-tech models. Cost of an amputee's rehab? Often tens of thousands of dollars more. These are just a fraction of the medical expenses victims of the Boston Marathon bombing will face. The mammoth price tag is probably not what patients are focusing on as they begin the long healing process. But friends and strangers are already setting up fundraisers and online crowd-funding sites, and a huge...

Medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but employers in the state can lawfully fire workers who test positive for the drug, even if it was used off duty, according to a court ruling Thursday. The Colorado Court of Appeals found there is no employment protection for medical marijuana users in the state since the drug remains barred by the federal government. "For an activity to be lawful in Colorado, it must be permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law,"...

Pfizer Inc. said Thursday that the European Union's committee of medical experts has rejected the company's drug Xeljanz for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The European Medicines Agency committee recommended against approving the drug because its benefits did not sufficiently outweigh its risks, Pfizer said in a statement. The New York-based drugmaker said it would appeal the decision. According to Pfizer, the regulators did not believe the drug consistently controlled the disease or reduced...

Two dozen babies sat on the laps of their mothers, who dressed in a rainbow of headscarves at the Medina Maternal Child Health Center. They are among Somalia's luckiest _ the first to receive a new vaccine that protects against five dangerous diseases. With more regions of Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, at peace for the first time in 20 years, health care workers are expanding vaccination programs and can now access 40 percent of south-central Somalia, where the influence of hardline...

Seven people have been charged with smuggling bladders from an endangered fish in what authorities said Wednesday may be a growing international practice in which the bladders are sold for up to $20,000 each to be used in a highly desired soup. U.S. border inspectors in Calexico have seized 529 bladders since February that they believe were destined for China and Hong Kong. The probe began when an inspector spotted about 30 bladders buried in an ice chest. The bladders came from totoaba fish...

We're in denial: Americans underestimate their chances of needing long-term care as they get older _ and are taking few steps to get ready. A new poll examined how people 40 and over are preparing for this difficult and often pricey reality of aging and found two-thirds say they've done little to no planning. In fact, 3 in 10 would rather not think about getting older at all. Only a quarter predict it's very likely that they'll personally need help getting around or caring for themselves during...

A new strain of bird flu that emerged in China over the past month is one of the "most lethal" flu viruses so far, worrying health officials because it can jump more easily from birds to humans than the one that started killing people a decade ago, World Health Organization officials said Wednesday. Scientists are watching the virus closely to see if it could spark a global pandemic but say there is little evidence so far that it can spread easily from human to human. WHO's top influenza expert,...

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Poll on long-term care was conducted from Feb. 21 to March 27 by NORC at the University of Chicago. It is based on landline and cellular telephone interviews with a nationally representative random sample of 1,019 adults age 40 or older. Interviews included 797 respondents on landline telephones and 222 on cellular phones. Digits in the phone numbers dialed were generated randomly to reach households with unlisted and listed landline...