World health agencies plan to launch a massive polio vaccination in three West African nations, following a fast-moving and especially virulent outbreak that has already killed 97 people.Since the first confirmation of polio November 4 in the Republic of Congo, at least 226 people have been diagnosed with acute flaccid paralysis -- a condition commonly associated with polio -- according to the United Nations.Of those, 97 had died as of Tuesday -- "an unusually high mortality rate," the World Health Organization and U.N. Children's Fund said in a joint press release. At least four of the 226 total cases have already been confirmed as polio, a number that is expected to rise. [Read the full article]

The changes may be subtle, especially at first: An aging executive misses an appointment or two, or can't recall what was said in last week's meeting. A doctor who's nearing retirement suddenly blanks on a longtime patient's name.So-called senior moments like these aren't unusual as people age, but if memory lapses on the job persist, get worse, and can no longer be overlooked or downplayed by colleagues, it could be a red flag for Alzheimer's disease."New cases of Alzheimer's occur every 70 seconds," says Richard Mayeux, MD, a professor of neurology, psychiatry, and epidemiology at Columbia University, in New York City. "The total number of individuals with problems like this will increase as the population ages."Given the aging population and the weak economy -- which is prompting older people who do have jobs to stay in them -- the problem will likely only get worse. More than 5 million people in the U.S. [Read the full article]

San Francisco, California, Mayor Gavin Newsom vetoed Friday the city's ban on most McDonald's Happy Meals with toys.In making the veto, the mayor released a new report on how a public-private partnership is combating childhood obesity and how San Francisco's more than 55,000 public school students are now eating fresher and healthier foods."Parents, not politicians, should decide what their children eat, especially when it comes to spending their own money," said Newsom. "Despite its good intentions, I cannot support this unwise and unprecedented governmental intrusion into parental responsibilities and private choices."Under a partnership with the private sector, the local government has been remedying the root causes of obesity, Newsom said. [Read the full article]

Medical workers expressed alarm Friday over the increase in hospitalizations and deaths in Haiti's cholera outbreak as the earthquake-devastated nation's already strained health system overflowed with the sick.On the outskirts of the capital city of Port-au-Prince in the slum of Cite Soleil, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) saw 216 cases of cholera at Choscal Hospital on Thursday. Five days ago, that number was only 30.Stefano Zannini, the head of mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres, said his staff was seeing seven times the cases they were seeing three days ago."The trend is extremely, extremely alarming," he said. "We have not reached a peak yet, but it could arrive next week."The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs put the death toll Friday at more than 800, with more than 12,000 people hospitalized. [Read the full article]