Health Information

AP - Americans might have to line up twice next winter for flu shots — once for the regular jab and again later for swine flu protection.

Reuters - Combined treatment with the chemotherapy drugs topotecan and docetaxel is effective for women who have had a return of their uterine or ovarian cancer and have already been treated with other drug combos, new research shows.

AP - President Barack Obama voiced hope Friday that the swine flu virus will run its course “like ordinary flus” as officials reported more than two dozen new cases and scores more schools shut down.

AP - The swine flu outbreak that has alarmed the world for a week now appears less ominous, with the virus showing little staying power in the hardest-hit cities and scientists suggesting it lacks the genetic fortitude of past killer bugs. President Barack Obama even voiced hope Friday that it may turn out to be no more harmful than the average seasonal flu.

Reuters - When millions of people started dying around the world in 1918, doctors and scientists hadn’t a clue what was happening. As the epidemic spread, people blamed it on everything from tiny plants to old dusty books.

AP - The swine flu virus that has frightened the world is beginning to look a little less ominous. New York City officials reported Friday that the swine flu still has not spread beyond a few schools. In Mexico, very few relatives of flu victims seem to have caught the virus.

Reuters - Mexico voiced hope on Friday it might be getting control of an outbreak of a new flu strain that has killed up to 176 people there, shut down large parts of the country and raised fears of a global epidemic.

AP - Government health officials warned dieters and body builders Friday to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold supplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at least one death.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) — Men who regularly drank up to a
half a glass of wine each day boosted their life expectancy by five years,
Dutch researchers report.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) — Two new studies provide
more evidence that drugs such as Procrit and Aranesp, often used by cancer
patients to fight anemia-linked fatigue, may boost the risk of death and
serious adverse events such as blood clots.