According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans today have lower levels of potentially dangerous substances in their blood than those 10 years ago.

Such substances include lead and byproducts of secondhand smoke

The Japanese trade ministry announced Friday that over 370 factory workers died and nearly 90 others became ill after handling asbestos, over the span of a decade. The figures comes after a national survey, following reports of health problems linked to the hazardous material.

The Economy and Trade Ministry said a total of 374 died of mesothelioma, a cancer affecting the lining of the chest cavity, or pheumoconiosis (black lung), at 24 of the 89 asbestos-products manufacturers that responded to the survey

In a People Daily's report, the South African Health Department announced that between 6.29 million and 6.57 million people in the country had been infected with HIV/AIDS by last year.

The figure, attributed to the department's HIV and Syphilis Antenatal Sero-prevalence Survey, is far higher than the estimate of 4.5 million given by the official state statistics agency, Statistics SA

Christina Ficara - All Headline News Staff Reporter

The magazine ranks hospitals in 17 specialties. To make it onto the "honor roll," hospitals had to rank at or near the top in at least six specialties. Hopkins was ranked first in ear, nose and throat; gynecology; kidney disease; rheumatology and urology

A survey released Thursday reveals two-thirds of women have no health insurance, and more than a quarter of young and middle-aged U.S. women went without medical care last year because of insufficient funds.

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that a growing number of women are forgoing screening tests, such as mammograms, and are not talking to their doctors about important health issues such as smoking, alcohol use, and calcium intake