Obesity rates in the United States are still increasing, and have reached nearly 60 percent for women in some counties. But the good news is that physical activity is on the rise too, according to a new study of counties across the nation. The study found the percentage of people in the United States who get enough exercise increased from 2001 to 2009, with counties in Kentucky, Florida, Georgia and California seeing the largest gains. The biggest increase for men...

Most summer health bummers are obvious (bug bites, sunburns). But there's one danger that's not usually seen with the naked eye: air pollution. Pollution, particularly ozone pollution, is stronger in the summer, thanks to the sun's warmer rays, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Exposure to this pollution has been linked to lung cancer and heart failure in a pair of new reviews published in The Lancet. In the first review, researchers examined data from 17 cohort studies based in...

The threat ofH7N9 avian flu, which killed at least 37 people and sickened a total of 132 individuals in China earlier this year, according to the World Health Organization, appears to have waned. But the danger is not over; in fact, the virus has qualities that could potentially spark a global outbreak, researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, report in the latest issue ofNature. An international team of researchers analysized the first two human cases of H7N9, finding that...

Time spent outdoors is good for humans, but for cats, outdoor playtime can morph into a public-health threat. Domesticated cats that spend time outside, as well as feral cats, can carryToxoplasmagondii, a waterborne infection that originates from the feces of infected cats, posing a widespread health threat,researchers from the Johns Hopkins University report in the latest issue of the journalTrends in Parasitology. (MORE: One-Third of the World Has THIS Disease) Felines deposit about 1.2 million metric tons of feces into...

As summer weather simmers on and shaping up becomes more of a priority, weight-loss status updates and photos of 5K finishlines are likely to be crowding your Facebook newsfeed. Now, Facebook is using all those posts to find out more about America's fitness habits. So if you love CrossFit, for example, you might find like-minded exercisers in El Paso, Texas. That's where the most social activity surrounding the functional fitness trend occurs, according to Facebook's analysis. The calculations, applied only...

Ozone and particulate air pollution contribute to more than 2 million deaths a year, scientists report in the journal Environmental Research Letters. ABOVE: The Most Polluted Cities in America Researchers from the University of North Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency used a number of different mathematical models to estimate how air pollution affects population health — including the role climate change plays. They found that climate change has had only minimal affects on the number of air pollution-related deaths....

The Center for Science in the Public Interest publishes two annual lists: The FDA-regulated foods most likely to give you a foodborne illness, and the USDA-regulated meats most likely to give you a foodborne illness. See which foods are most likely to make you sick here. (Thinkstock/Jupiterimages) At least 80 people across Iowa and Nebraska have fallen ill after contact withcyclospora, a rare parasite that infects fresh fruits and vegetables, according to the states' public health departments. Public health officials...

Elderly and chronically ill Muslims should not perform the hajj pilgrimage to curb the spread of the MERS coronavirus, Saudi Arabian health officials warned over the weekend. So far, MERS, which stands for Middle East respiratory syndromecoronavirus, has killed 38 people in Saudi Arabia and another seven globally. More than 80 cases of the disease have been confirmed, according to the World Health Organization. (MORE: The Latest MERS Death Toll) The hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia — one of...

The summer season is rife with warnings about Lyme disease — which sickens more than 35,000 Americans every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but Lyme is far from the only deadly tick disease to watch out for. (ABOVE: What Lyme Disease Looks Like) Among the other ailments: Rocky Mountain spotted fever,anaplasmosis, babesiosisand as experts warn in a new paper in the journal Parasites and Vectors,Powassan encephalitis. All tickborne diseases are on the rise,...

Unusually warm winters are one reason for larger-than-average outbreaks of West Nile virus in the following summers, a new study finds. (ABOVE: What Bit Me? Identifying Bugs and Their Bites) Using weather data for the 11 years since West Nile virus was first detected in Dallas County in 2001, the researchers found a relationship between winter temperatures and the rate of infections — the fewer winter days with temperatures dipping below 28 degrees, the higher the number of cases of...

(Stockbyte) Imagine you’re swimming, when suddenly, you find it hard to breathe as your lungs fill up with water. As scary as this is, it's how the simple act of breathing can feel for some of the 26 million Americans with asthma during a heat wave. And thanks to a high pressure system across much of the country that just won't quit, relief from the sizzling temperatures — and asthma symptoms — is not likely to be near. (MORE: Heat...

Some strains of the H7N9 bird flu in China are becoming resistant to the only antiviral drugs doctors have left to treat the infection, a new study suggests. The study, which examined the viruses in a single person infected with H7N9, found that a portion of theH7N9 viruseslurking inside the person were resistant to the antiviral drugsoseltamivir (marketed as Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). About 35 percent of the viruses were resistant to these drugs, while 65 percent were sensitive, the...