HEALTH BEAT

ATLANTA (AP) -- A flu surveillance official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced the estimate at a vaccine advisory meeting Thursday in Atlanta.

PALO ALTO, CA (NBC) -- Time is critical during any emergency, but especially during a stroke.

AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER) -- The start of summer camp in Maine brings new concerns over H1N1 or Swine Flu.

ATLANTA (AP) -- The national count of swine flu cases has risen to 21,449 cases and the number of deaths have nearly doubled to 87.

MIAMI (NBC) -- Lumbar stenosis is a common cause of back pain, but now many sufferers won't need surgery to get relief.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats on Wednesday took the first major step toward a sweeping overhaul of the health care system in over a decade, pushing legislation despite strenuous GOP opposition and uncertainty about its provisions and costs.

CHICAGO (AP) -- President Barack Obama pushed hard Monday for a health care overhaul, saying the system is "a ticking bomb" for the budget that could force America to "go the way of GM" without a legislative fix.

BOSTON (AP) -- Health officials say a Boston woman in her 30s is the first swine flu-related death in Massachusetts.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Authorities urged the public to remain calm as swine flu cases more than doubled in Thailand on Saturday and New Zealand warned a sharp rise in its infections could be imminent, two days after the U.N. declared a pandemic.

GENEVA (AP) -- The World Health Organization says the spread of swine flu has created the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.

PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER) -- Hip replacement surgery normally requires a person to spend several days in the hospital and sometimes up to a year in rehab. But a new procedure is changing that outcome dramatically.

NEW YORK (NBC) -- The more often a child moves to a new home, the greater the child's risk becomes for teen suicide. That story tops our healthbeat headlines.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Some government researchers say the Environmental Protection Agency should take a closer look at sports fields and playgrounds made from ground-up tires.

PORTLAND (AP) -- Seven East Coast states are advising pregnant women and young children to avoid eating striped bass and large bluefish caught recreationally in state waters because of high PCB levels in the migratory fish.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A child has become the fifth person in New York City to die with swine flu.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's a big week for efforts to enact a sweeping health care overhaul as Congress returns from a weeklong recess.

NEW YORK (NBC) -- Domestic violence could be taking an even larger toll on children than parents realize. That story tops our healthbeat headlines.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eating for two? New guidelines are setting how much weight women should gain during pregnancy -- surprisingly little if they're already overweight or obese when they conceive.

AUGUSTA (AP) -- The number of swine flu cases in Maine is holding steady but health officials are alarmed by the spread of the virus in nearby states.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- The number of confirmed swine flu cases in Australia has more than doubled overnight.

NEW YORK (NBC) -- Getting the right Vitamin D in your body keeps your brain active as you age. That story tops our healthbeat headlines.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is setting aside $1 billion to pursue a vaccine against the new swine flu.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Activists backing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are asking the Justice Department to open a wide-ranging investigation of what they say is monopoly-like power in the hands of major insurers.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Joe Six-Pack may have to hand over nearly $2 more for a case of beer to help provide health insurance for all.

Harold Brown says Nature's Poison Ivy Cure is the oldest remedy around. To make it, Brown picks sweet fern, a plant which grows abundantly in Maine.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It may be riskier on the lungs to smoke cigarettes today than it was a few decades ago -- at least in the U.S.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jeff Keen wanted to help people, perhaps by becoming a nurse or a counselor. He died at 23 and never realized those career ambitions. But, in death, he's helping people through organ donation.