Top Health Stories from the AP

• AP Exclusive: Back to work after salmonella case Sept. 8, 2010, 2:15 a.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The peanut industry executive whose filthy processing plants were blamed in a salmonella outbreak two years ago that killed nine people and sickened hundreds more is back in the business. Stewart Parnell, former president of the now-bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America, is working as a consultant to peanut ...

• ADWATCH: Ads attacking health plan miss some facts Sept. 8, 2010, 2:14 a.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care initiative is getting toxic on the campaign trail. With the country sharply divided over the sweeping new insurance law, Republicans and their allies are taking to the airwaves to attack it as elections near, often resorting to exaggeration and omissions to make ...

• Judge won't let stem cell money keep flowing Sept. 7, 2010, 5 p.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday refused to lift his order blocking federal funding for some stem cell research, saying that a "parade of horribles" predicted by federal officials would not happen. Medical researchers value stem cells because they are master cells that can turn into any tissue of ...

• Merck schizophrenia drug approved for 2 new uses Sept. 7, 2010, 1:50 p.m. CDT

  TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Merck & Co. said Tuesday its schizophrenia drug Saphris has been approved for two additional uses by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug was first approved in August 2009 for treating acute schizophrenia episodes in adults and acute mania or manic-depressive behavior in adults with bipolar ...

• UK regulators want Avandia diabetes pill pulled Sept. 6, 2010, 1:58 p.m. CDT

  LONDON (AP) — GlaxoSmithKline's controversial diabetes pill Avandia should be pulled from the U.K. market because of concerns that the drug can increase the risk of heart attacks, British drug regulators said Monday. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said an independent panel of experts had advised ...

• FDA relents from midodrine withdrawal plan Sept. 6, 2010, 11:40 a.m. CDT

  NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators have backed off a plan to remove a Shire PLC low blood-pressure treatment from the market after warning in August that the drug has not been proven effective. Food and Drug Administration representative Sandy Walsh said in an emailed statement that the agency will continue ...

• BC LB Herzlich takes field after cancer recovery Sept. 4, 2010, 12:18 p.m. CDT

  BOSTON (AP) — Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich has returned to the field for Saturday's season-opener against Weber State after missing the entire 2009 season while recovering from cancer. Herzlich, the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year, missed last year as he underwent treatment for a rare ...

• Duke's Singler has surgery on left knee Sept. 3, 2010, 4:57 p.m. CDT

  DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke senior Kyle Singler is recovering from knee surgery. The school said last season's most outstanding player at the Final Four had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Friday afternoon at the Duke University Medical Center. He is expected to recover in time for the ...

• Product Recalls: egg noodles, eggs, dog treats Sept. 3, 2010, 4:15 p.m. CDT

  The following recalls have been announced: —Real Taste Noodle Manufacture of Chicago is recalling 5-pound bags of egg noodles, because they have the potential to be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened ...

• Nursing homes broaden offerings to turn a profit Sept. 3, 2010, 12:41 p.m. CDT

  MIAMI (AP) — Seniors amble the nursing home's halls, while children from around the world visit for biofeedback treatments. One floor down from the hospice, middle-aged workers fill its pain management clinic. A rehabilitation center attracts people of all ages. For decades, the mission at Miami Jewish Home and Hospital ...

• Abbott abandons plans to sell vaccines business Sept. 3, 2010, 9:35 a.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Drug and medical device firm Abbott Laboratories said Friday it has abandoned plans to sell its vaccines unit, less than three months after exploring sales talks with rival companies. North Chicago-based Abbott acquired the unit as part of its $6.2 billion purchase of Belgium-based Solvay Pharmaceuticals in ...

• Tractor upgrades reduce farm deaths from rollovers Sept. 3, 2010, 2:15 a.m. CDT

  Dairy farmer Anthony Marco was compressing a long row of chopped hay beneath his tractor two weeks ago, preparing it as winter feed for his cows, when the 4-ton machine suddenly toppled over as he drove it along the pile's steep sides. Marco's wife and mother, who watched ...

• Former egg farm workers say complaints ignored Sept. 3, 2010, 2:12 a.m. CDT

  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Department employees worked full-time at two Iowa egg farms at the center of a salmonella outbreak and massive recall, but two former workers said they ignored complaints about conditions at one site. The USDA employees worked next to areas where roughly 7.7 ...

• Calderon: Violence price worth paying in drug war Sept. 2, 2010, 4:13 p.m. CDT

  MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Felipe Calderon tried to rally frustrated Mexicans behind his increasingly bloody drug war Thursday, saying he knows violence has surged under his watch, but arguing that it is the price of confronting powerful and brutal cartels. Calderon delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address two days after his ...

• Calderon: Violence price worth paying in drug war Sept. 2, 2010, 3:55 p.m. CDT

  MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Felipe Calderon tried to rally frustrated Mexicans behind his increasingly bloody drug war Thursday, saying he knows violence has surged under his watch, but arguing that it is the price of confronting powerful and brutal cartels. Calderon delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address two days after his ...

• LB Wilson looks to live up to promise for Illini Sept. 2, 2010, 11:56 a.m. CDT

  CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — In three years at Illinois, Martez Wilson has gotten a firsthand medical education. He can talk at length about the numbness and fear that follow a neck injury like his last fall against Missouri, and the months spent recovering after surgery. He can tell you about the ...

• Workers bear larger share of health premium costs Sept. 2, 2010, 10 a.m. CDT

  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Workers are paying a larger portion of their health insurance costs as businesses shift more of the burden to their employees to help ride out the economic downturn, an annual study shows. The average employee contribution toward premiums for family coverage climbed 14 percent this year to nearly ...

• Journal editors question sale of diet pill Meridia Sept. 1, 2010, 4:57 p.m. CDT

  NEW YORK (AP) — Editors of a top medical journal call Meridia "another flawed diet pill" and question whether it should stay on the market as a study shows it raises the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with heart problems. The strongly worded editorial comes two weeks before ...

• Pharmacy measure in ND Supreme Court's hands Sept. 1, 2010, 3:52 p.m. CDT

  BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Supporters of a voter initiative that could help bring cheaper prescription drugs to North Dakota are hoping a legal technicality won't keep them from getting the issue placed on the ballot. At issue is a state law that requires most pharmacies to have a pharmacist ...

• Post-cancer, foot injury, Herzlich back for BC Sept. 1, 2010, 2:58 p.m. CDT

  BOSTON (AP) — Cancer kept Mark Herzlich out for all of last season, and a stress fracture in his foot this summer threatened to delay the Boston College linebacker's return to the field. But Herzlich returned to practice this week and said on Wednesday he expects to play in Saturday ...

• IndyCar team rallies around crew member with ALS Sept. 1, 2010, 1:13 p.m. CDT

  JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Carey Hall's mind remains as sharp as ever, so he knows the outlook is grim. The muscles in his tongue are failing him, and he can't express his thoughts as clearly as he could before his diagnosis nearly eight months ago. His hand muscles are ...

• Botox maker to pay $600M to resolve investigation Sept. 1, 2010, 9:02 a.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Allergan Inc., the maker of wrinkle-smoothing Botox, has agreed to pay $600 million to settle a yearslong federal investigation into its marketing of the top-selling, botulin-based drug. The Justice Department and the company said Wednesday in a statement it will plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge of "misbranding ...

• Rutgers JUCO transfer Graham to have knee surgery Aug. 31, 2010, 3:29 p.m. CDT

  PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers basketball transfer Tyree Graham needs surgery on his left knee. Coach Mike Rice says doctors discovered a problem when the Durham, N.C., guard took a physical examination after arriving on campus. Rice says Graham will remain involved in team activities. There is no timetable ...

• Feds appeal order blocking stem cell research Aug. 31, 2010, 2:38 p.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Tuesday asked a federal judge to lift a restraining order that it says could undercut federally funded embryonic stem cell research. The Justice Department filed its request with U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth only days after he blocked government funding of embryonic stem ...

• FDA looks to curb abuse of cough medicine Aug. 31, 2010, 10:48 a.m. CDT

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators are weighing restrictions on Robitussin, NyQuil and other cough suppressants to curb cases of abuse that send thousands of people to the hospital each year. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday posted its review of dextromethorphan, an ingredient found in more than 100 over-the-counter ...