Health News

Children under 4 should not be given over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, drug companies said Tuesday in a concession to pediatricians who doubt the drugs do much good and worry about risks. Read More

Get moving: The nation's new exercise guidelines set a minimum sweat allotment for good health. For most adults, that's 2 1/2 hours a week. Read More

Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in a study of nearly 500 babies, researchers reported Monday. Placing babies on their backs to sleep is the best advice for preventing SIDS, a still mysterious cause of death. Read More

Most people over 75 should stop getting routine colon cancer tests, according to a government health task force that also rejected the latest X-ray screening technology. Read More

One in 75 patients who gets a knee or hip replaced must get it replaced again within three years, new research finds, although the studies underscore a question: Just how much pounding can a new joint take if you want it to last? Read More

Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases. Read More

Warning: young children should not keep hedgehogs as pets _ or hamsters, baby chicks, lizards and turtles, for that matter _ because of risks for disease. Read More

Warning: young children should not keep hedgehogs as pets _ or hamsters, baby chicks, lizards and turtles, for that matter _ because of risks for disease. Read More

More children have died from flu because they also had staph infections, according to a new government report that urges parents to have their kids get the flu shot. Read More

Recent winners of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, and their research, according to the Nobel Foundation: Read More

The government is urging consumers to thoroughly cook frozen chicken dinners after 32 people in 12 states were sickened with salmonella poisoning. Read More

Federal health officials have issued a public health warning against rabies after an Iraqi puppy with the disease arrived in the United States. Read More

Tiny traces of melamine, the chemical that has set off a global food safety scare, are not harmful in most foods, except baby formula, government experts said Friday. Read More

The largest study of U.S. children ever performed _ aiming to track 100,000 from conception to age 21 _ will start recruiting mothers-to-be in North Carolina and New York in January. Read More

The economy isn't the only thing that's sagging _ so are faces, breasts and bellies as would-be cosmetic surgery patients increasingly opt against costly nips and tucks because of tough financial times. Read More

A computer is as good as a second pair of eyes for helping a radiologist spot breast cancer on a mammogram, one of the largest and most rigorous tests of computer-aided detection found. Read More

The AIDS virus has been circulating among people for about 100 years, decades longer than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Genetic analysis pushes the estimated origin of HIV back to between 1884 and 1924, with a more focused estimate at 1908. Read More

The government approved a new genetic test for the flu virus Tuesday that will allow labs across the country to identify flu strains within four hours instead of four days. Read More

Could voting for president be hazardous to your health? An analysis of Election Day traffic deaths dating back to Jimmy Carter's 1976 win suggests yes, but the authors say that's no reason not to go to the polls. Read More

Making tests and treatment for malaria free dramatically increases the number of people who seek treatment for the disease that kills 1 million people a year, an international medical aid group said Tuesday. Read More