((Thinkstock)) Foodborne illnesses, such as norovirus or E. coli, tend to peak as the weather gets warmer and poorly prepared meat is served. This year, a less common foodborne illness has already claimed its first victim: Mad cow disease recently caused its fourth death ever in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (MORE: 15 Deadly Disease that Should Terrify You) Laboratory tests confirmed that a patient in Texas died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,...

Got aches and pains? Here’s a new way to use nature’s most-notorious medicine to ease what ails you: a marijuana massages. (MORE: 15 Shocking Facts You Don’t Know About Weed) Now that cannabis is legal for recreational use in Colorado, at least one spa is offering a weed-infused relaxation session. The idea is that a cannabis-containing medicated lotion, sold by Colorado-based Apothecanna, relieves pain and inflammation when rubbed into the skin. Anecdotally, it works. Apothecanna’s website is full of reviews...

A man being treated for the Ebola virus in Uganda. (WHO) After spreading across parts of Africa in March, the Ebola death toll in Sierra Leone recently doubled in one week, according to Reuters. Despite sharing a border with Guinea — where the outbreak began — Sierra Leone had been able to avoid cases of the deadly disease, until it killed four people in late May. The virus has now killed 12 people in Sierra Leone, up from the six...

(Thinkstock) Warm weather means mosquito-borne viruses are back for the year. Although you’re likely familiar with West Nile and malaria, be warned that the Western Hemisphere has a new nasty virus to watch out for: chikungunya. The U.S. Virgin Islands just experiencedits first locally acquired chikungunya infection, health officials announced Wednesday (PDF). Previously, the virus has hit the islands through travelers from St. Thomas, an island in the Caribbean where the illness is more prevalent. Like the more common dengue...

They Go Outside (Thinkstock/Digital Vision) It’s summer — time to let the sunshine in. Spending a little time in the sun — whether it’s warm or not — can do wonders for your health. Not only can you gain a little burst of vitamin D, but also your mood might improve. Lisa Nisbet, Ph.D., who studies how individual connectivity with the natural world influences well-being, told weather.com that even just a few minutes outside can boost your happiness — even...

48. North Dakota: This state ranked 48th with an overall stress score of 38.67, according to Movoto. (Thinkstock) What’s more relaxing than a day at the beach? The water, sunlight and a little warm weather should be enough to set anyone’s mind at ease. Although the ocean might be a nice place to visit, you probably wouldn’t want to live there, no matter how relaxing it sounds. As a rule of thumb, the farther from the water you are, the...

(Thinkstock/Stockbyte) Do your joints hurt when a storm's coming? You have the change in barometric pressure to thank — though your joints aren't the only part of your body affected by the weather. In fact, the weather's impact on your body and the natural world is so varied, there's a whole scientific study devoted to it: biometeorology. It's asmall, but diverse field of atmospheric scientists who study how — and why — the weather impacts animals, plants and humans. From...

((Thinkstock/Jupiterimages)) Four years after pertussis — commonly known as whooping cough — cases peaked in California, the state is witnessing another serious outbreak. The number of cases spiked with more than 800 new diagnoses in the last two weeks, causing the California Department of Public Health to declare an epidemic. (MORE: Diseases You Can Have — And Not Know It) Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, reported the state's epidemic, which has already seen more...

Where you live has a huge influence on your happiness, an emotion that's on the decline worldwide, according to the latest Gallup poll. In the United States, Hawaii, a place known for sun, surf and beautiful vistas is unsurprisingly happy. But a few cold northern Plains states are also among the happiest in the land, indicating that warm weather and natural beauty isn't all it takes for a sunny outlook. "Well-being is driven by your fellow residents and those around...

A man being treated for the Ebola virus in West Africa. (WHO) Liberia continues to battle the deadly Ebola virus, which recently claimed seven more lives. The latest deaths brought the total number of people believed to have died from Ebola to 16, Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told The Associated Press. In their latest epidemic report, the Liberian Ministry of Health & Social Welfare lists the number of confirmed, probable and suspected Ebola cases at 30. The virus...

Many health experts suggest getting back to the basics to improve your heath. Eat fruits and vegetables. Move more. Drink water. Simple pieces of health advice can really go a long way. And who does these things better than animals? Without 9-to-5 grinds to worry about or the new season ofOrange Is the New Blackto distract them, wild creatures, and a few of the furry friends in our own backyards, are solely focused on doing what's best for them. (MORE:...

Sunbathing may give your skin what looks like a healthy, tanned glow, but scientists say it could have similar effects on the body as a drug like heroin, and that people can even become addicted to lying in the sun. The news comes in a study published Thursday in the scientific journal Cell, led by scientists from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. They found that mice exposed often to ultraviolet (UV) radiation display symptoms of addiction -- and...