Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Vanishing Devices: Doctors implant disappearing stents, heart patches

    Novel heart devices fashioned mainly from materials that the body can absorb or break down have made their debut in heart patients.

    By Ben Harder
  2. Health & Medicine

    Lung Scan: CT may catch some treatable cancers

    Computed tomography (CT) scans seem to catch lung cancer early in smokers, but questions remain about the screening procedure.

    By Nathan Seppa
  3. Health & Medicine

    Protecting against a difficult microbe

    By using DNA from the bacterium Clostridium difficile, scientists have fashioned a vaccine against the microbe.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Flu vaccine seems to work for kids under 6 months of age

    Babies younger than 6 months appear fully capable of responding to a flu shot.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    Dengue strikes United States

    Texas has been hit with the first-ever outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever in the continental United States.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    Cola May Weaken Women’s Bones

    New research indicates that, in postmenopausal women, regular consumption of cola-flavored soft drinks may weaken bones.

    By Janet Raloff
  7. Health & Medicine

    A Salty Controversy over Sodium-and-Health Papers

    A public-interest group has raised a ruckus over salt-industry payments to the authors of a nutrition journal's package of articles on salt's influence on health.

    By Janet Raloff
  8. Health & Medicine

    Prep Work: Bird-flu vaccine might work better with primer

    Giving people a vaccine against an existing form of avian influenza might help them respond better when given a shot for a future strain of the virus during a pandemic.

    By Nathan Seppa
  9. Health & Medicine

    Antiviral drug may limit herpes spread

    In people with genital herpes, the drug famciclovir sharply reduces virus shedding from the genitalia.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    Do acid blockers let microbes reach the colon?

    Suppressing stomach acid while taking antibiotics may allow drug-resistant bacteria to colonize the intestines.

    By Nathan Seppa
  11. Health & Medicine

    Olive Oil’s Newfound Benefits

    New studies find benefits in olive oil beyond their heart-friendly fats.

    By Janet Raloff
  12. Health & Medicine

    Life Blood: Drug stops mothers’ bleeding after births

    A drug sometimes used to induce abortions can stem bleeding after childbirth.

    By Christen Brownlee