The most recent reports Saturday afternoon were of two confirmed cases of the virus in Kansas -- bringing the number of confirmed U.S. cases to 11. Those joined nine confirmed cases in Texas and California and an apparent outbreak at a private school in New York City, where officials say eight children likely have the virus. By Saturday night, health officials in Mexico said 81 deaths there were "likely linked" to the swine flu. Dr. Jose A. Cordova ...

A potentially deadly new strain of the swine flu virus cropped up in more places in the United States and Mexico on Saturday, in what the World Health Organization called "a public health emergency of international concern." The most recent reports Saturday afternoon were of two confirmed cases of the virus in Kansas -- bringing the number of confirmed U.S. cases to 11. Those joined nine confirmed cases in Texas and California and an apparent outbreak at a private school ...

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged on Friday that "concern has grown" since the first reports of a novel swine flu infecting patients in Texas and California emerged late March. Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the agency, said health officials are closely tracking the spread of the swine flu, after additional cases of flu and some deaths were reported in Mexico. Preliminary testing of flu viruses in patients in Mexico and the U.S. ...

A flu outbreak in Mexico has killed at least 60 people and sickened nearly 1,000, health officials said Friday. The outbreak has led health officials in the United States to suspect a connection with seven known cases of a novel swine flu infection in California and Texas. As a precaution to avoid further contamination, schools and universities in Mexico City and the state of Mexico were closed Friday, said the national health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos. He said the ...

Singer Natalie Cole told CNN's Larry King she is searching for a kidney after an illness caused both of her kidneys to fail. Before she finished telling King Tuesday night about her battles with drugs, illnesses and her search for a kidney, dozens of e-mails flooded the CNN studio. They were all offers from people saying they would get tested to see whether their kidney could be donated. King handed a thick stack of paper to Cole. "These are all ...

Seven suspected pirates are in German custody after they fired on a naval tanker off the coast of Somalia and were pursued by warships, the German military said. Well, researchers are hoping that a potential April Fool's time bomb -- the Conficker.c that is supposed to hit computers on April 1 -- turns out to be equally unfounded. But realizing that hope alone is not a prudent option, here is a primer on the worm so you can adequately prepare ...

Eating at Michelin-starred restaurants doesn't normally involve being violently ill afterwards. So ever since 400 diners at British chef Heston Blumenthal's famed Fat Duck restaurant reported symptoms like nausea and diarrhea in mid-February, food connoisseurs have been keen to know what — or who — to blame. On Thursday, Blumenthal revealed the likely culprit: the highly contagious Norwalk virus, commonly known as norovirus. "It is categorically not food poisoning," the celebrity chef told Australia's Hospitality magazine after arriving in Melbourne for ...

HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update 2008 Washington, D.C., Department of Health 82 pages The Gist: There are few who still shrug off HIV and AIDS as exotic calamities that befall only specific segments of the world's population. But many of us are probably oblivious to just how badly the virus is ravaging our nation's capital. According to a city report, 3% of Washington, D.C., residents suffer from HIV or AIDS — a figure that ranks as the highest in the ...

He landed in Cameroon, the first stop on a trip that will also take him to Angola. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by AIDS and HIV than any other region of the world, according to the United Nations and World Health Organization. There has been fierce debate between those who advocate the use of condoms to help stop the spread of the epidemic and those who oppose it. The pontiff reiterated the Vatican's policy on condom ...

The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services boldly announced in 1984 that there would be an AIDS vaccine within two years. The discovery of an AIDS-causing virus , she said, was already demonstrating "the triumph of science over a dreaded disease." Today, 25 years and many failed attempts later, an AIDS vaccine seems as elusive as ever. New HIV infections still greatly outpace the number of people being brought onto anti-retroviral treatment, with some 2.5 million new HIV cases ...