Health Information

AFP - Special stockings designed to prevent dangerous blood clots among stroke patients are no better than routine care, according to a study published on Wednesday by The Lancet.

AP - The World Health Organization, which has helped spearhead efforts to contain swine flu, won Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias prize on Wednesday for its work fighting global killers such as AIDS, polio and tuberculosis.

AP - Special stockings commonly given to stroke patients to prevent blood clots don’t work, a new study reported Wednesday.

AP - The world’s swine flu death toll reached 100 as two more New Yorkers died while infected with a virus that has sickened more than 12,000 people.

AP - A 13-year-old cancer patient is preparing for chemotherapy after a legal fight to treat him naturally and a tense six days when the boy and his mother left the state in violation of a court order.

AP - A research institute devoted to Alzheimer’s and related diseases has teamed up with a major maker of diagnostic tests to speed development of what could be the first test to detect Alzheimer’s in its early stages.

AFP - Smita breaks down as she remembers the day she learned she had leprosy. “I felt really bad,” she says, wiping away tears. “I didn’t know what it was.”

AP - The U.S. cancer death rate fell again in 2006, a new analysis shows, continuing a slow downward trend that experts attribute to declines in smoking, earlier detection and better treatment.

AP - Diabetes is spiraling in Asia but — unlike the West — those affected are relatively young and less likely to be struggling with obesity, a new study shows.

Reuters - A steady 15-year decline in the U.S. death rate from cancer translates to about 650,000 lives over that time, the American Cancer Society said on Wednesday.