Health News Headlines

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline is investing 17.5 million euros ($23.5 million) in a new venture fund to invest in drugs for rare diseases, underscoring the growing role of big drugmakers in backing start-up companies. GSK and many of its rivals are becoming more active in funding early-stage companies, reflecting both …

By Yasmeen Abutaleb WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four in 10 U.S. adults are now caring for a sick or elderly family member as more people develop chronic illnesses and the population ages, a new study has found. "More health care is happening at home," said Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Research Center's Internet …

By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) - Two of America's premier national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, warned visitors on Wednesday about a gastrointestinal illness that has sickened at least 200 people at the start of the summer tourist season. The rare health advisory, tied to a suspected outbreak of the highly contagious …

By Stephanie Simon (Reuters) - Students at all Boston public high schools will soon be able to obtain free condoms at school - as long as they sit through a few minutes of counseling about safe sex - under a policy approved Wednesday by the school board. Condoms are already available in 19 high schools with on-site health …

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. has responded to a multi-state campaign and stopped selling flasks, shot glasses and pint glasses that look like prescription pill bottles, political leaders in drug-plagued Kentucky said Wednesday.

By Madeline Will NEW YORK (Reuters) - The American Medical Association joined the effort to discourage consumption of sugary drinks on Wednesday with a pledge to work to get them off U.S. government food aid programs for the poor. The nation's largest physician group said removing the sugary beverages from the Supplemental …

ATLANTA (AP) — A vaccine against a cervical cancer virus cut infections in teen girls by half in the first study to measure the shot's impact since it came on the market. The results impressed health experts and a top government top health official called them striking.

LONDON (AP) — A mysterious new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East spreads easily between people and appears more deadly than SARS, doctors reported Wednesday after investigating the biggest outbreak in Saudi Arabia.

By Yasmeen Abutaleb WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day after the American Medical Association classified obesity as a disease, U.S. lawmakers introduced bipartisan bills in the Senate and House of Representatives that would require Medicare to cover more obesity treatment costs. ...

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The new Middle East coronavirus that has killed 38 people after emerging late last year is a serious risk in hospitals because it is easily transmitted in healthcare environments, infectious disease experts said on Wednesday. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Otherwise healthy people with a diarrhea-causing infection may have picked up the bacteria in doctors' offices or other healthcare sites, according to a new government study that also hints heartburn medications might increase the risk. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for …

How does the U.S. compare to other countries when it comes to organ donors?        

Researchers have discovered a potential biological basis for fibromyalgia in patients' skin. Current treatment uses medications that act solely within the brain. It brings varying degrees of relief.

By Jessica Toonkel and Soyoung Kim NEW YORK (Reuters) - Forest Laboratories Inc, the specialty drugmaker that counts investor Carl Icahn as a major shareholder, is among a handful of companies interested in bidding for Irish drugmaker Elan Corp Plc, two people familiar with the situation said. Elan, which has a market capitalization …

How does the U.S. compare to other countries when it comes to organ donors?        

AMA classifies obesity as a disease and says sitting is dangerous.        

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Compared to a decade ago, fewer Americans have a cluster of risk factors that together can signal heart troubles and diabetes down the line, according to a new study. But while so-called metabolic syndrome is declining, some of its components - including large waistlines and …

BOSTON (Reuters) - Vermont police arrested 33 people on drug charges on Wednesday in a sweep aimed at tackling the state's growing heroin and cocaine problem, according to the state police. The operation followed a six-month investigation by the police drug task force of rising drugs flows into the Green Mountain State …