A chicken sticks its head out from a cage in a market in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Oct. 26, 2005. Fears of a pandemic have increased in recent months as a virus infecting millions of birds has spread throughout Asia. While the virus has not yet spread from person to person, officials fear that it could eventually mutate and become as contagious as the annual flu.
A senior citizen scratches his head as he listens to a seminar on how to sign up for the new Medicare drug prescription program during a Medicare enrollment event Dec. 19, 2005, in Pleasanton, Calif. Open enrollment for the new program began Nov. 15 continues through May 15, 2006.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff speaks during a meeting on pandemic planning Dec 5, 2005 in Washington, D.C. The Health and Human Services Department held a meeting with state and local officials to establish an integrated federal-state influenza-pandemic planning process.
HIV positive orphans take anti retro viral (ARV) drugs at the Aidchild Orphanage Dec. 6, 2005 in Mpigi, north of the capital of Kampala, Uganda. Uganda is pioneering the battle against AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing its national prevalence of the disease down from a peak of 18.3 percent to an estimated 6.2 percent currently.
Students at McLean High School walk past vending machines on school property. A bubbling law suit has the $92 billion U.S. soft drink industry battling claims it is to blame for a hefty slice of America's youth obesity epidemic. Giants Pepsi Co. and Coca-Cola could soon be ensnared in the kind of class action legal tangles which landed tobacco firms and McDonalds in court.
Former CIA master of the disguise Bob Barron shows some of his prosthetic facial parts Dec. 9, 2005, at his lab in Ashburn, Va., near Washington, D.C. Barron, who changed the identities of spies with his skill for 25 years, today devotes his time to helping people who are disfigured.
The MyPyramid, left, a new symbol and interactive food guidance system that replaces the old Food Guide Pyramid is shown April 19, 2005, in Washington, D.C. The MyPyramid symbol is meant to encourage consumers to make healthier food choices and to be active every day.
A woman walks down the street April 6, 2005 in San Francisco. According to a study, almost 53 percent of Californians over 25 are overweight, and more than 17 percent are obese or extremely overweight and are costing nearly $21.7 billion a year in medical bills, injuries and lost productivity.
U.S. computer billionaire Bill Gates, who has donated more than $1 billion in recent years to major health campaigns dealing with HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and vaccines, speaks at the opening session of the World Health Organization's annual assembly May 16, 2005, in Geneva.