Rob Stein

A potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal infection is more common than previously estimated, federal health officials reported Wednesday.

The infection, caused by a bacterium known as Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, causes nearly 500,000 illnesses in the United States each year and kills about 29,000, according to the federal Centers for Disease ...

Babies who ate the equivalent of about 4 heaping teaspoons of peanut butter weekly were about 80 percent less likely to develop a peanut allergy by their fifth birthday. So finds a landmark new study.

Swedish kids growing up in families that wash their dishes by hand are less likely to develop certain allergies than those in families with dishwashers, a study suggests. But there may be more to it.

Is the FDA being sexist or appropriately cautious in requiring stringent evidence that the latest pill works and is safe? Women's advocacy groups aren't sure.

An experimental treatment called immunotherapy is helping patients' immune systems fight off cancer.

In the first part of a special NPR/WNYC series “Living Cancer,” we look at how an experimental treatment called immunotherapy is helping patients' immune systems fight off cancer.

Our immune systems fight off disease, protecting us from colds, flu and infection. An experimental treatment called immunotherapy is helping patients' immune systems fight off cancer.

The British Parliament has voted to allow scientists to attempt to do "DNA transplants" on women's eggs to try to help them have healthy babies. Doctors want to do this to help famili...

Unexpectedly high levels of the cancer-causing chemical were found in an analysis of the vapor from e-cigarettes, researchers say.

As expected, this year's flu vaccine looks like it's pretty much of a dud.

The vaccine only appears to cut the chances that someone will end up sick with the flu by 23 percent, according to the first estimate of the vaccine's effectiveness by the federal Centers for Disease Control ...

An HPV test could replace the Pap smear for many women, two groups of physicians say. But other doctors, including the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, still urge dual testing.

With two young men dead, the Food and Drug Administration is considering banning sales to consumers of a highly concentrated form of pure caffeine. It's too easy to overdose, officials warn.

Using an e-reader before trying to nod off may disrupt sleep more than reading a paper book, a study suggests. Scientists suspect the screen's blue light is messing with a sleep-inducing hormone.

Federal health officials are investigating an incident involving the mishandling of the Ebola virus at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters in Atlanta.

The incident involved the material used in an experiment with the Ebola virus, the CDC said in a statement released late Wednesday. The material ...

The Food and Drug Administration announced plans to change a decades-old policy banning men who have ever had sex with another man — even once — from giving blood for life.

Michigan doctors used 3-D printing to custom-make a splint to prop open Garrett Peterson's defective windpipe last January. He's home with his parents this Christmas, as "normal life" begins.

Nearly 9 percent of 8th graders, more than 16 percent of 10th graders and more than 17 percent of high school seniors have used the devices in the past month, the survey found.

Scientists have seen mysterious bursts of methane in the Martian atmosphere, and they can't rule out the possibility that the methane was made by something that was once alive on Mars.

The most common strain of flu virus circulating this year tends to cause a lot of serious illness and more deaths than usual. It's also not a great match for this year's flu vaccine.

The 87-year-old former Democratic governor and convicted felon is in a congressional runoff with Republican Garrett Graves and voters will decide between the two on Saturday.