Queens, NY - Breezy Point - Oct. 30, 2012. (Credit: Natalie Keyssar) The devastation following Hurricane Sandy's battering of the U.S. East Coast one year ago was enormous. The superstorm destroyed or damaged thousands of homes, closed businesses and the New York Stock Exchange, flooded the subway system, and even wiped out years of biomedical research at universities. (ABOVE: Superstorm Sandy Then and Now EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS) Less publicized, however, was a disturbing public health threat seen in emergency rooms across...

(Thinkstock/Digital Vision) About 12 percent of spices imported to the United States are contaminated with insect parts, whole insects, excrement, rodent hairs, feathers and other things, according to a new analysis from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The findings, which were released Wednesday, are part of a comprehensive food-safety report by the administration. Microbial pathogens such as salmonella were found in about 7 percent of imported spices, the report found. From 1973 to 2010, 14 spice-linked foodborne-illness outbreaks occurred...

((Thinkstock)) The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus — which caused a pandemic in 2002 and 2003, killing more than 750 people worldwide — likely originated in horseshoe bats in China, according to a new study. The researchers identified two new SARS-like viruses (called coronaviruses) in the bats that are very similar to the SARS virus that infects people. (MORE: 10 Illnesses that Flourish in Fall) Although SARS-like coronaviruses have been isolated from bats in the past, which suggested the...