'Outbreak' Morphs Into 'Rashomon'

Runaway lawyer's disease less dangerous than initially thought

(NEWSER) - TB patient Andrew Speaker is not quite as sick as planeloads of people feared, Reuters reports. A doctor from Speaker's Denver hospital says the Atlanta lawyer, who flew to Europe despite warnings that he was highly contagious, doesn't have XDR—or extensively drug-resistant—tuberculosis, but rather the more treatable multi-drug-resistant strain. More»

Docs will remove tubercular portion of Andrew Speaker's lung; could clear the disease

(NEWSER) - The TB traveler will go under the knife to remove a tennis-ball sized area of infected lung tissue, his doctors said today. Andrew Speaker, who triggered an international health crisis last month when he took a transatlantic flight while infected with an extremely drug-resistant strain of TB, will undergo surgery in July. More»

(NEWSER) - The H1N1 virus can more easily infect the lungs than the common seasonal flu, a new study finds, making it more likely to cause pneumonia. What’s more, the present virus bears troubling resemblance to the 1918 strain that killed more than 40 million people worldwide. The study also shows that people who survived the 1918 pandemic have an antibody response to H1N1, indicating that their body "remembered" it, MSNBC reports. More»

Experts worry about increasing infection rate among women

(NEWSER) - Just two years after it was almost eradicated, syphilis is experiencing a stunning comeback across the nation, health officials report. Nearly twice as many cases were reported in New York City in the first three months of this year, compared to the same time last year, the New York Times reports. The rate more than doubled nationally in 2005, according to the most recent statistics available. More»

New suspicions that virus may have spread in floodwaters

(NEWSER) - England is culling a second herd of cattle feared to have foot-and-mouth disease. The animals were showing symptoms on an unidentified farm within a restricted zone around the area southwest of London where the first outbreak occurred. Investigators were considering the possibility that a flood in July may have spread the virus. More»