The spread of H1N1 may be slowing, but parents still need to be vigilant. Children with the virus can go downhill very quickly.

Our Elizabeth Cohen reports on some of the warning signs your child may be seriously ill.

For most children if they do catch the H1N1 flu, it won't be life-threatening. Your pediatrician will likely recommend a few days of rest with plenty of fluids.

But what if your child is in real danger and you're the only one who can see it? What should you do?

Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen reports on one family's story.

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

(CNN) – It's everywhere you look - in schools, in shopping malls, in day care centers, in offices.

When soap and water aren't available, hand sanitizer is a good solution, experts say.

Hand sanitizer has become ubiquitous after the outbreak of the novel H1N1 flu virus. But what are its special powers? Does it really protect from viruses? And what's the best way to use it?

When it comes to choosing a hand sanitizer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the ones with alcohol for protecting against the H1N1 flu. The optimum proportion is 60 to 95 percent alcohol, according to this CDC chart showing the relative effectiveness of different types of sanitizers.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a recent briefing that people should wash their hands often with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers to combat the flu.

"We are beginning to see some declines in influenza activity, but there is still a lot of influenza everywhere," she said.

The CDC said that according to some estimates, up to 80 percent of all infections get spread by hands.

Read the full story

By Laura Dolan

As the Senate gets ready to resume debate on a sweeping health care reform bill, many critics complain the bill lacks any serious cost cutting measures.

We found one business owner in Florida who decided to do it himself. His name is Harry Rosen.

Fed up with rising costs, this owner of seven hotels in Orlando ditched conventional health insurance eighteen years ago and created his own health care plan for everyone who works for him. Now, his staff of 28 cares for over 4,000 patients, including the families of his employees.

He says he covers his employees for less than half of what most employers pay to provide insurance. But there’s a catch.

“If you smoke Jim, you can’t work for me.”

You must do it the “Rosen” way, which means employees must use the clinic and follow doctor’s orders, especially if they have a chronic condition like diabetes. If they don’t comply, its three strikes and you’re out.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Saundra Young, CNN Medical Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The new mammogram recommendations out earlier this week caused quite an uproar. Now comes another change in screening tests for women - this one for cervical cancer.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) releases new guidelines Friday, saying women don't need their first cervical cancer screening - or Pap test - until they're 21 years old. And, they don't need followup examinations as often as previously recommended.

According to the guidelines, women younger than 30 should be screened every two years, instead of annually. Women 30 or older can be examined once every three years.

"The tradition of doing a Pap test every year has not been supported by recent scientific evidence," said Dr. Alan G. Waxman, who developed the document for ACOG's Committee on Practice Bulletins-Gynecology. "A review of the evidence to date shows that screening at less frequent intervals prevents cervical cancer just as well, has decreased costs, and avoids unnecessary interventions that could be harmful."

The current guidelines, from 2003, recommend that women get a Pap test three years after they begin having sexual intercourse, but no later than age 21. And that women younger than 30 have an annual exam. For women 30 or older, the recommendation was every two to three years, if they'd had three consecutive negative Pap tests.

Read the full story

The new guidelines on breast cancer screenings have left a lot of women upset and confused. But what do they really mean for you? CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta answers your questions.

There are millions of women today who are now questioning the best strategy for detecting and fighting breast cancer.

New guidelines from a government task force advise women to now wait until they are 50-years-old, not 40, to start getting routine mammograms.

So, do the risks of routine mammograms really outweigh the benefits?

To get a perspective from all sides, we talked to: Julie Sisskind, a breast cancer patient without any family history, who was diagnosed from a routine mammogram; Lucy Marion, one of the members of the task force that created the new guidelines; and our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon.

Since the new recommendations have the potential to affect the health and well-being of millions of American women, it's not surprising that there is a deep concern from many over what this all actually means.

At times heated, this is an interview you don't want to miss.

Related: Breast 'awareness' trumps self-exams, docs say

When it comes to health care reform Democrats and Republicans don't seem to agree on much. One thing they do agree on is making a new system more affordable.

While Americans wait for Washington's health care overhaul, prescription drug prices are rising faster than they have in years, and it's calling into question the drug industry's promised "partnership" on reform. CNN's Alina Cho reports.

A government task force is changing the guidelines for breast cancer screening, and the major medical reversal could affect millions of American women.

For years women over 40-years-old were told to get a mammogram every year because early detection saves lives. Now experts are saying they're not effective and lead to unnecessary biopsies.

Women are being told to wait until they're 50-years-old to start getting screened, leaving many scratching their heads. CNN's Kiran Chetry reports.

Read more: Task force changes mammography guidelines

CNN took cameras into a the emergency room of the Children's National Medical Center to see first hand how swine flu made an impact.

See what the doctors and nurses who deal with H1N1 every day have to say.