Disease | featured news

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner never had thyroid cancer despite being diagnosed with the disease last month, her spokesman said on Saturday.

There's more news on cancer screening tests - this time for women. Scientists advising the government say a Pap test is a good way to screen young and middle-aged women for cervical cancer, and it's only needed once every three years. But they say there is not enough evidence yet to back testing for HPV, the virus that causes the disease.

In some cases, Alzheimer's disease may in fact be the result of an infection, and may be even be transmissible, a new study in mice suggests.

Health officials are concerned about the trend at a time when many infectious diseases are making a comeback.

Fifteen people have now died after consuming cantaloupe contaminated with the listeria monocytogenes bacteria, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. At least 84 people in 19 states have become ill with the bacteria, the agency said. And the number of illnesses could still grow, added the CDC, citing reporting lags and how the disease can develop slowly in some people.

According to a 2000 survey, Americans' worst fear is a cancer diagnosis. One out of every three women and one out of every two men will be diagnosed with cancer in her or his lifetime. It's against this backdrop that the American Association for Cancer Research, which bills itself as the world's largest cancer research organization, posed the question: Where do we stand in the war against cancer?

In just three weeks, gamers deciphered the structure of a key protein in the development of AIDS that has stumped scientists for years.

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a genome-based immunization strategy to fight feline AIDS and illuminate ways to combat human HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The goal is to create cats with intrinsic immunity to the feline AIDS virus.

Investigators can now take precautions against diseases starting to emerge, like flu or food-borne bugs and antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

Finding that disease-bearing mosquitoes are drawn to foot odor, researchers in Africa, which accounts for 90% of malaria deaths worldwide, are planning to use the smell from sweaty socks in traps.