Reuters
Health - Reuters

MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria strain is seen in a petri dish containing agar jelly for bacterial culture in a microbiological laboratory in Berlin March 1, 2008. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Drug-resistant bacteria on increase in U.S.: study

Tue Nov 24, 12:41 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cases of a drug-resistant bacterial infection known as MRSA have risen by 90 percent since 1999, and they are increasingly being acquired outside hospitals, researchers reported on Tuesday.

  • Peanut, a 2-year old Chihuahua, waits for her owner during a job fair at the Southeast LA-Crenshaw WorkSource Center in Los Angeles November 20, 2009. In a depressed neighborhood in the City of Angels, hundreds of good jobs appeared to fall from the sky last week. Young and middle-aged Los Angeles residents, mostly blacks and Hispanics, lined up down the block at an employment office for more than 600 jobs, paying $14 an hour and higher with free healthcare, at new JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels downtown. Picture taken November 20, 2009. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (UNITED STATES ANIMALS EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)
    Healthcare reform faces challenges in Senate Mon Nov 23, 11:47 AM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's U.S. healthcare overhaul plan has cleared an important Senate hurdle but lawmakers warned on Sunday of challenges ahead in winning support for passage, even among Obama's own Democrats.

  • University students carry large red ribbons on a street during an HIV/AIDS awareness rally ahead of World AIDS day in Shenyang, Liaoning province November 29, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer
    Over 33 million infected with AIDS virus: U.N. 4 minutes ago

    SHANGHAI (Reuters) - An estimated 33.4 million people worldwide are infected with the AIDS virus, up from 33 million in 2007, but more people are living longer due to the availability of drugs, according to a United Nations report.

  • A boy who is diagnosed with a case of H1N1 flu is carried by his grandmother to receive medical treatment at a hospital in Hefei, Anhui province, November 24, 2009. REUTERS/Jianan Yu (CHINA)
    Swine flu may have hit one peak; more to come Mon Nov 23, 12:00 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.

  • Vioxx risks could have been detected earlier: study Mon Nov 23, 5:33 PM ET

    CHICAGO (Reuters) - Heart risks from taking Merck & Co Inc's painkiller Vioxx could have been detected more than three years before the company withdrew the drug from the market in September 2004, had the data been openly available, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

  • Italy finds proposal to skip lunch hard to digest 50 minutes ago

    ROME (Reuters) - Food-loving Italy responded with indignation on Tuesday to a minister's comments that lunchbreaks -- still a sit-down ritual for many Italian workers -- are bad for waistlines and the economy, and should be skipped.

  • Health care reform may hurt hospital credit Mon Nov 23, 2:45 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - High-cost urban U.S. hospitals may face debt rating downgrades if large cuts to Medicare funding are implemented as part of U.S. health care reform, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday.

  • Psychotropic drugs boost fall risk in the elderly Mon Nov 23, 5:21 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new analysis of studies including nearly 80,000 people aged 60 and older confirms that certain types of widely prescribed drugs, such as antidepressants and sedatives, can increase their risk of falling.

  • Bottles of the prescription arthritis and pain medication VIOXX sit on a shelf at a New York City Pharmacy after Merc Research Laboratories announced a worldwide voluntary withdrawal of the drug September 30, 2004. REUTERS/Mike Segar
    Texas court tosses state Vioxx suit against Merck Mon Nov 23, 5:03 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Texas court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the state against drugmaker Merck & Co that sought a refund for money spent on the withdrawn Vioxx pain treatment, the company said on Monday.

  • Don't kiss Santa, he may have the flu: Hungary government Mon Nov 23, 4:22 PM ET

    BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Santa Claus should avoid kissing children and shaking their hands to prevent spreading the flu and should get vaccinated against the illness, Hungary's state health authority said.

  • The French family from Young's Point waits for H1N1 vaccinations, administered by Peterborough Health Unit, held at a branch of Royal Canadian Legion in rural Lakefield Ontario, October 29, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Thornhill
    Canada stops use of one batch of flu vaccine Mon Nov 23, 12:55 PM ET

    WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Some Canadian provinces have stopped using a particular batch of the H1N1 flu vaccine after six people experienced severe allergic reactions, the country's health agency said on Monday.

  • Los Angeles gets tough on medical marijuana shops Fri Nov 20, 9:29 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Past the security man and his pit bull and through a haze of eye-watering smoke, two youths load up a pipe next to a row of shiny glass jars with two dozen varieties of marijuana bud displayed like candy.

  • Funeral workers risk cancer from formaldehyde Fri Nov 20, 4:58 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Morticians who use formaldehyde to embalm bodies have a higher risk of leukemia, researchers reported on Friday.

  • Did U.S. make mistake in skipping vaccine additive? Fri Nov 20, 12:36 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. health officials struggle to vaccinate tens of millions of Americans against the pandemic of swine flu, some are looking regretfully at one easy way to instantly double or triple the number of doses available -- by using an immune booster called an adjuvant.

  • Traditional Chinese medicine Professor Jia Yucheng holds a burning stick he used to create a vacume on a glass cup he attached to a patient's leg at a clinic in central Beijing November 24, 2009. Jia uses the technique called 'wet-cupping' to draw 'bad' blood from behind a patinet's knees as a remedy for colds and flu. The clinic is offering their traditional treatments as an alternative to vaccinations and facial masks in an effort to combat the H1N1 virus, popularly known as swine flu. REUTERS/David Gray (CHINA SOCIETY EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS IMAGES OF THE DAY)
    H1N1 flu spreading east, peaking in some areas: WHO Fri Nov 20, 12:40 PM ET

    GENEVA (Reuters) - The H1N1 flu is moving eastwards across Europe and Asia after appearing to peak in parts of western Europe and the United States, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

  • Eat and drink your way to a healthy colon? Fri Nov 20, 3:55 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating fruits and vegetables, and drinking tea and red wine may offer overweight men and normal weight women some protection from colon and rectal cancers, hint study findings from the Netherlands.

  • Exercise important in teens' blood pressure control Fri Nov 20, 2:15 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular exercise may help keep teenagers'