MEDICINE

On Wednesday, a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discriminated against Jeff Kapche when it refused to hire him as a Special Agent because of his diabetes.

In spite of fewer openings for new nurses at hospitals -- a result of the economic recession -- there is still a nursing shortage, according to Deloras Jones, RN, MS, executive director of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care (CINHC).

Results from a new national study among 688 physicians revealed that over the past few weeks, doctors continue to be less concerned about the impact that the H1N1 swine flu will have on themselves and their families.

Mothers and newborns are no more likely to survive today than two decades ago, with prospects worst in countries battling AIDS, conflict and poverty, the World Health Statistics 2009 report showed on Thursday.

The spread of the new H1N1 virus in Asia showed no signs of slowing Thursday as the Philippines recorded its first case and new infections were confirmed in Japan, China and Taiwan.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Thursday she would not hesitate to raise the global pandemic alert to the top of the six-point scale if the new H1N1 flu is spreading globally.

The World Health Organization’s Director General Dr. Margaret Chan met Tuesday with over 30 vaccine manufacturers from developing and developed countries at Geneva to fight flu epidemic.

Vaccine makers could produce 4.9 billion pandemic flu shots per year in the best-case scenario, the head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as rich and poor countries grappled over limited supplies.

The 62th World Health Organization's annual assembly opened Monday in Geneva, WHO Director General Margaret Chan told the 193 member states that WHO is prepared to lead the global public health emergency especially if the influenza H1N1 escalates.

An eight-month pregnant 66-year-old businesswoman, Elizabeth Adeney, is on her way to become the Britain’s oldest mom.

Australia's Antarctic research stations, cut off for nine months of the year, are taking lessons learned from space to try to improve the diagnosis and treatment of staff remotely.

The new flu strain is spreading widely in the United States and Japan and is likely to circulate worldwide, health officials said on Monday.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Sunday it sued Bayer AG over its rights to an anti-cancer compound that it says it discovered during joint research with the German drugmaker.

There are four deaths and at least 4,700 probable and confirmed U.S. cases of the H1N1 flu, formerly known as swine flu, with 22 U.S. states reporting widespread or regional influenza activity, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said on Friday.

Poland's troubled listed insulin maker Bioton BOTN.WA swung to a 20 million zloty ($6 million) net loss in the first quarter due to a drop in revenues and losses at subsidiaries.

Bayer's cancer drug hopeful Nexavar showed promise as a lung-cancer treatment in a Phase II study, the ASCO association of U.S. oncologists said on its Website on Friday.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, the newly nominated director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is likely to take on a few public health fights.

The World Health Organization warned on Friday against a false sense of security from waning and apparently mild outbreaks of H1N1 flu, saying the worst may not be over.

The number of confirmed cases of the new Influenza A (H1N1) flu has climbed to 6,497, including 65 deaths, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

The United States now has 3,009 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 influenza across 45 states and Washington, D.C., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday.

The two drugs used to treat the influenza should be used carefully and only when needed for the chronically ill, pregnant women and other vulnerable patients, global health officials said on Tuesday.