June isn't part of the official flu season, but the summer weather doesn't mean you can push illness prevention to the back burner until October. Hundreds of people still contract influenza each week, all summer long, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (MORE: Deadly Summer Diseases) But that weekly number could easily be in the thousands. Instead, enter the flu shot: The vaccine prevented 13 million illnesses and 110,000 hospitalizations from 2005 to 2011,...

The Happiest State in America: Hawaii. With a well-being score of 71.1 Hawaii was named the happiest state in the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being survey. States are listed here in order from most to least happy. (Credit: Medioimages/Photodisc) Earlier this year, the results of the were released, giving insight into what states are the happiest – and which states are the saddest. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a state perhaps best known for sun and surf snagged the...

(Black Mountain Fire Dept. Facebook Page) A six-year-old North Carolina girl has died after doctors suspect she contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) from a tick. Emilee Russell, the daughter of the battalion chief at Black Mountain (N.C.) Fire Department, was vacationing with her family in Texas when she got sick, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports. (MORE: Identifying Bug Bites| Know THIS Before You Hit the Beach) Despite multiple hospitals, doctors and blood treatments, Emilee passed away Wednesday, June 12. "They...