NEW YORK -- A 15-year-old boy damaged his eyes while playing with a laser pointer he'd bought over the Internet, say doctors who warn that dangerously high-powered versions are easily available online.


Laser - Health - United States - Physics - Ophthalmology

NEW YORK -- CVS Caremark Corp. said Wednesday it will give away up to $5 million in seasonal flu vaccinations to people without health insurance.


CVS/pharmacy - Configuration Management - Tools - Concurrent Versions System - CVS Caremark

TRENTON, N.J. -- Merck & Co. said Tuesday its schizophrenia drug Saphris has been approved for two additional uses by the Food and Drug Administration.


Health - Schizophrenia - Mental health - Disorders - Articles and Research

Faithful readers of this column will recall that last school year was a particularly brutal one, minor-illness-wise, for the Butler family, complete with runny noses, hacking coughs and the not-so-occasional stomach flu. So as we come to the tail end of a perfectly healthy, happy, snot-free summe...



Immune system - Health - Conditions and Diseases - Infectious disease - Influenza

The brown bugs, each about half the size of a pencil eraser, lie in glass petri dishes - a few on their backs, legs in the air. They died within seconds of scurrying across a piece of paper containing drops of a chemical.The next step is to find out whether that same piece of paper will kill inse...


United States - Bedbug - New York City - DDT - Shopping

Remember the lines last winter for hard-to-find flu shots, the closed schools and the craziness about an H1N1 pandemic? Health officials say all those are things of the past: The pandemic is officially over, there's plenty of vaccine available already, and this year, one shot will deal with most ...


Flu season - Influenza - Health - Infectious Diseases - Conditions and Diseases

After Ann Callan, 85, fell and broke four ribs, she spent six days at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. Doctors and nurses examined her daily and gave her medications and oxygen to help her breathe. But when she was discharged in early January, her family got a surprise: Medicare would not pa...


Hospital - Medicare - United States - Health - Medicine

Jesse Bolton is a pretty buff guy. He's in the Navy, and a few mosquitoes don't scare him much. But he has seen what the bite of a malaria-carrying insect can do. One of his squadmates picked it up in Africa a few years ago.



Malaria - Health - Infectious disease - Conditions and Diseases - Parasitic

About this time last year, voters and politicians were consumed by the rumor, fanned by health-care overhaul opponents, that the legislation would include "death panels" of government bureaucrats who could "pull the plug on Grandma" if she needed costly care.


Law - Death Penalty - Crime and Justice - Capital punishment - Business