USA today health reports: Diseases and disorders

"The silent killer." That's how a headline in USA TODAY, the Nation's No. 1 Newspaper, described hepatitis. This life-threatening liver disease can go undetected for decades because it often causes no symptoms until serious liver damage has occurred. The good news is that new medications and research bring "hope, treatment, even cures." Millions of people around the world are diagnosed each year with viral hepatitis. In this book, you'll read case...

In the United States and around the world, AIDS remains a critical health issue. Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and an additional 56,000 are infected each year. In July 2010, President Barack Obama's administration launched a new U.S. government initiative to stop the spread of HIV. It was the first national strategy...

More than twenty million people in the United States suffer from asthma, a disease of the lungs. In fact, asthma is the most common serious chronic disease among American children. Any person at any age can be affected by asthma, but more cases have been linked to factors such as increased air pollution, exposure to tobacco smoke, and childhood obesity. Without preventive treatments and lifestyle adjustments, asthma . . . can be a serious, even deadly...

With the 2009 outbreak of the deadly H1N1 flu, popularly known as "swine flu," people across the globe crowded emergency rooms and clinics for treatment. During outbreaks, schools shut down and parents stayed home from work as the flu spread across the United States. But the best prevention method touted over and over again was profoundly simple: "Hand washing is a cheap, easy and effective way to avoid catching...the flu" reports USA TODAY, the Nation's...

Each year, more than one million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer, and it affects people of all ages. Indeed, a headline from USA TODAY, the Nation's No. 1 Newspaper, says, "Milder skin cancers are becoming more common among young people; consequences could lie ahead." An estimated 8,650 people die each year from melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The good news is that the vast majority of skin cancers can be completely cured if...

Between one and two million people in the United States are known to have lupus. But many more people may have it and not know it. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease, which means the body's immune system cannot tell the difference between healthy cells and invaders like viruses and bacteria. In lupus, the immune system attacks tissues throughout the body. In mild cases symptoms include joint pain and fatigue. The worst cases can end in kidney disease...