In 2009, the H1N1 virus struck hard, killing millions of people worldwide.   The days of wearing surgical masks at the airport during the swine flu outbreak may be long gone, but the probability of a severe pandemic striking again is still high.   And when it does, Texas will be ready, thanks to developments made by UT researchers.   Lauren Ancel Meyers, a UT professor of integrative biology and director of the Division of Statistics Scientific Computation, and her…

06-15-2012 – Dentists and a consultant for the state Department of Health are encouraging the city of Santa Fe to continue the practice of adding fluoride to public drinking water supplies. Officials on Wednesday set a public hearing July 11 to debate whether to adopt what they expect will be a new, lower federal standard for optimal fluoridation. Some city councilors also have said they will advocate that the city scrap fluoridation across the board and instead rely on natural…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) today announced the winners of 2012 Childhood Obesity Prevention Awards during the 80th Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. The awards went to cities with outstanding programs that encourage healthy weight through balanced diet choices and regular physical activity. The following cities were recognized for their mayoral-based initiatives: * Louisville, KY Allentown * PA Lima, OH * Houston, TX * Las Cruces, NM * Patterson, LA This grant program is the result…

As the typical peak of the Texas flu season approaches, the Texas Department of State Health Services reminds people to get vaccinated against the flu. “This has been a fairly mild flu season so far, but that can change quickly,” said Dr. David Lakey, DSHS commissioner. “We usually see a significant increase in influenza in Texas in January and February, so this is the time to protect yourself.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone at least 6…

Low-cost bacterial meningitis vaccine supplies at public clinics are nearing shortages after new college students began bombarding doctors’ offices in need of the shot before spring classes start, an El Paso public health department official said. State legislators during the last session passed Senate Bill 1107, which requires all entering college and university students to show evidence of receiving a meningococcal vaccine or a booster dose during a five-year period preceding and at least 10 days before the first day…

AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Check-ups during pregnancy tend to focus around the waist. But there’s growing debate about which mothers-to-be should have a gland in their neck tested, too. Numerous studies since 1999 have found that an underactive thyroid can raise a woman’s risk of miscarriage, premature birth, or a lower IQ for her baby – even if it’s so mildly sluggish that she feels no symptoms. The problem: While serious cases are treated with a hormone pill,…

BEIJING (AP) — The strain of H5H1 bird flu that killed a Chinese man cannot spread among people, a health agency said Monday, appealing for calm after the country’s first reported case of the disease in humans in 18 months. Genetic analysis indicated the virus spread directly from poultry to the victim, who died Saturday in the southern city of Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Disease Control Center said in a statement reported by the official Xinhua News Agency. “Though it is…

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The last time Mark Stella went to the dentist he didn’t need an insurance card. Instead, he pulled out a Groupon. Stella, a small business owner, canceled his health insurance plan more than three years ago when his premium rose to more than $400 a month. He considered himself healthy and decided that he was wasting money on something that he rarely used. So when a deal popped up on daily deals site…

HARLINGEN — A program to feed the poorest of the poor on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande continues nearly three decades after the death of its founder. Frank Ferree, known as the “Border Angel” who founded Border Relief, died at age 88 in 1983. He was honored with a large funeral in Harlingen. As he lay in his sickbed, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan for his work. Roberto Rodriguez, today’s leader of…

HARLINGEN — Ask many of the officials charged with improving conditions in Texas’ colonias about their progress and receive a string of pre-packaged responses: about how generous state and federal budget writers have been, how wisely money has been spent, and how cooperatively they have worked together to aid the more than 2,300 impoverished villages on this side of the Mexican border. “I don’t want to be bragging, but the fact that we have several state agencies that have programs…