Rob Stein

Recent stories written by Rob Stein

Swine flu cases fall across the U.S. (11/21/2009)

WASHINGTON – The level of swine flu activity in the United States appears to be declining, although officials are worried about another increase of cases during the Thanksgiving holiday when many people travel and families gather.

Sebelius urges individual choices on mammograms (11/19/2009)

WASHINGTON – A top federal health official said Wednesday that the controversial new guidelines for breast cancer screening do not represent government policy, as the Obama administration sought to keep the debate over mammograms from undermining the prospects for health care reform.

Flu tied to viral pneumonia (10/17/2009)

WASHINGTON – The World Health Organization urged doctors Friday to treat suspected swine flu cases as quickly as possible with antiviral drugs, warning that the virus can cause potentially life-threatening viral pneumonia much more commonly than the typical flu, sometimes in relatively young, otherwise healthy people.

Swine flu vaccine ready, but are we? (10/4/2009)

Billions of tax dollars have been paid to giant pharmaceutical companies. Millions of doses of vaccine are on their way to huge warehouses around the country. Thousands of health workers are poised to start injecting into arms and squirting up noses.

Single shot of vaccine may be all adults need (9/11/2009)

WASHINGTON – The new swine flu vaccine appears to be highly effective for adults with just one shot, a major boost to the massive immunization campaign that officials are planning to protect against the first influenza pandemic in 41 years, researchers reported Thursday.

Swine flu could infect half of U.S. (8/25/2009)

Swine flu could infect half the U.S. population this fall and winter, hospitalizing up to 1.8 million people and causing as many as 90,000 deaths – more than double the number that occur in an average flu season, according to an estimate from a presidential panel released Monday.