US controls bird flu vaccines over bioweapon fears (AP)

In this June 5, 2008 file photo, chickens look out of their pen in a downtown neighborhood in Jakarta, Indonesia. When Indonesia's health minister stopped sending bird flu viruses to a research laboratory in the U.S. out of fear Washington could use them to make biological weapons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laughed and called it 'the nuttiest thing' he'd ever heard. Yet buried deep inside an 86-page supplement to U.S. export regulations is a single sentence barring U.S. exports of vaccines for avian bird flu for the same reason. (AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyiah, File)AP - When Indonesia's health minister stopped sending bird flu viruses to a research laboratory in the U.S. for fear Washington could use them to make biological weapons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laughed and called it "the nuttiest thing" he'd ever heard.


Limit on cold remedies for kids was FDA's idea (AP)
AP - When drug makers made a surprise announcement this week that they no longer recommend cough and cold remedies for youngsters under 4, they didn't let on that it was the government's idea.

1 in 4 US teen girls got cervical cancer shot (AP)
AP - One in four teen girls have rolled up their sleeves for the relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, federal health officials said Thursday.

WHO probing deaths from mystery disease in SAfrica (AP)

A nurse at the Sizwe hospital TB ward in Edenvale on the outskirt of Johannesburg, South Africa. Zambia along with the World Health Organisation have joined the hunt for a mystery illness that has killed four people in South Africa.(AFP/File/Gianluigi Guercia)AP - The U.N. health agency says it is investigating a mystery disease that killed three people in the South African city of Johannesburg.


German doing well after 1st double arm transplant (AP)

Karl Merk, center, and his surgeons Christoph Hoehnke, right, and Edgar Biemer, left, attend a news conference in Munich, southern Germany on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. Farmer Merk who received the world's first complete double arm transplant is recovering well and able to perform some basic tasks, though doctors said Wednesday it still could take up to two-years until he re-learns how to use his hands. Doctors spent 15 hours on July 25-26 grafting the donor arms onto the body of 54-year-old Karl Merk, who lost his own just below the shoulder in a farm accident involving a combine six years ago. (AP Photo/Uwe Lein)AP - A German farmer who received the world's first complete double arm transplant said Wednesday that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again.


Obesity increases risk of miscarriage (Reuters)
Reuters - Obesity appears to increase the risk of miscarriage, according to a review study appearing in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

HPV infection rates similar in men and women (Reuters)
Reuters - Although men are at high risk of acquiring human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, most last no more than a year, about the same time this sexually transmitted disease persists in women, researchers report in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

AIDS vaccine focus shifts after disappointments (Reuters)

A note (L) is placed under a candle during an AIDS International Candlelight Memorial in Belgrade May 18, 2008. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)Reuters - A global AIDS vaccine conference this week will seek fresh strategies against the HIV virus, with experts weighing the value of basic laboratory research against large-scale human clinical trials after a string of disappointments.


West African first ladies to join fight against female circumcision (AFP)

Members of African communities demonstrate against female genital mutilation in Kasarani, Nairobi, in 2007. First ladies from seven west African countries gather here Monday for a conference on ways to end female circumcision, a widespread practise in the region despite efforts to end it.(AFP/File/Marco Longari)AFP - First ladies from seven west African countries gather here Monday for a conference on ways to end female circumcision, a widespread practise in the region despite efforts to end it.


Older Diabetics With Depression Face Higher Death Rate (HealthDay)
HealthDay - FRIDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- In a group of Medicare beneficiaries who have diabetes, being depressed was associated with a higher death rate, according to a new study.

Two more genes linked to common skin cancer (Reuters)
Reuters - Scientists have found two new genetic variations that appear to increase the risk of the most common skin cancer among people of European descent.