A person who has a cardiac arrest has a higher chance of survival if he is sent to the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At 11.6 percent, it has the lowest heart attack death rate across the U.S.

His chances are lesser at the Danville Regional Medical Center in Virginia where the death rate for heart attack is 19.6 percent and 15.5 percent for heart failure

For the first time ever, the U.S. Centers for Medicare Services is making the information on hospital death rates available online. This will allow consumers to compare certain death rates at the hospitals with national and statewide averages.

Death rates for patients with pneumonia, heart attacks and heart failure are now posted on Medicare's Web site, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Most area hospitals show 30-day mortality rates for pneumonia, heart attack and heart failure that are little different from the national average of about 16 percent

With the onset of the flu season, the first protection for seniors, who are considered among the most vulnerable, is the flu vaccine. However, a new study says the vaccine is less beneficial and may not protect older people from pneumonia after they have the disease.

Researchers collected data on 1,173 people between 65 and 94 who had pneumonia. These individuals were compared with 2,346 people who did not get pneumonia. Both groups had similar rates of flu vaccination over three seasons of studies, the researchers say

Parents who care for mentally-challenged children are prone to develop weak immune systems due to stress, new research suggests. The study concluded that such parents should be offered a better support system.

Researchers at Birmingham University analyzed 60 parents who received the pneumococcal vaccine as part of the study. Half of them had children with developmental disabilities

A measles outbreak affecting 120 people in 15 states has alarmed health officials as it's the largest outbreak to happen in the last 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

U.S. health authorities believe that the measles outbreak is related to travelers coming back to the United States from other countries