May 21 (Reuters) – Moore, Oklahoma, has had the bad luck of
being hit by two highly destructive tornadoes, both in the month
of May, 14 years apart.

But the Moore that got struck on Monday is not the same as
in 1999. Like a lot of towns across America and in the so-called
“Tornado Alley,” rapid growth has made it a bigger target,
vulnerable to more damage.

CHICAGO, May 15 (Reuters) – Melanoma patients treated with
two Bristol-Myers Squibb drugs fared much better than
those who received either of the medications individually, a new
advance for treatments that harness the body’s immune system to
fight cancer.

Bristol released preliminary data from the early-stage trial
on Wednesday, with more detailed results expected to highlight
the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in
Chicago that starts at the end of the month.

CHICAGO, May 14 (Reuters) – Angelina Jolie’s decision to
have a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer may have
stunned fans of the Oscar-winning actress, but doctors say her
choice is shared by many other women with a high genetic risk
for breast cancer.

Jolie, who described her surgery and three-month recovery at
length in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Tuesday,
says she hopes her experience will encourage other women with a
family risk of breast cancer to get tested.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Only half of people in the United States who have ever been infected with hepatitis C get proper testing for the liver-destroying disease, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.

Proper testing is a two-step process in which people who have antibodies get referred for a second more sophisticated test to detect the virus.

NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) – In a blow for Alzheimer’s
patients, Baxter International Inc said it will scrap
late-stage trials of its antibody treatment for the disease
after the drug failed to improve cognitive decline and
functional ability in patients.

Baxter’s treatment, known as Gammagard, did show a benefit
in some patients with moderate disease and in those who are
carriers of a gene known as ApoE4 that raises the risk of
Alzheimer’s. The company said it will continue to analyze
results in these populations, but more trials would be needed to
support the drug’s approval.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current strain of bird flu that is causing illness and deaths in China cannot spark a pandemic in its current form – but he added that there is no guarantee it will not mutate and cause a serious pandemic.

In an exclusive interview at the Reuters Health Summit in New York, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said more than 2,000 people have been in contact with infected individuals, and only a handful have become ill.

CHICAGO, May 1 (Reuters) – The first-ever drug designed to
treat social impairments associated with autism failed to show a
benefit in a midstage trial, representing a blow to families and
to privately held drugmaker Seaside Therapeutics.

Results of the study, presented on Wednesday at the
International Meeting for Autism Research in Spain, showed the
drug known as STX209 failed to improve symptoms of social
withdrawal in a 12-month study of 150 individuals with a wide
range of symptoms and impairment.

CHICAGO, April 29 (Reuters) – An influential U.S. panel is
calling for HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65,
regardless of whether they are considered to be at high risk, a
change that may help lift some of the stigma associated with HIV
testing.

The new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel of doctors and
scientists, now align with longstanding recommendations by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing of
all adults aged 15 to 65, regardless of their risk.

CHICAGO, April 29 (Reuters) – An influential U.S. panel is
calling for HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65,
regardless of whether they are considered to be at high risk, a
change that may help lift some of the stigma associated with HIV
testing.

The new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel of doctors and
scientists, now align with longstanding recommendations by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing of
all adults aged 15 to 65, regardless of their risk.

CHICAGO, April 25 (Reuters) – The National Institutes of
Health on Thursday halted a study testing an experimental HIV
vaccine after an independent review board found the vaccine did
not prevent HIV infection and did not reduce the amount of HIV
in the blood.

The trial, started in 2009, is the latest in a series of
failed HIV vaccine trials. The study, called HVTN 505, had
enrolled 2,504 volunteers in 19 U.S. cities, and was looking at
men who have sex with men and transgender people who have sex
with men.