CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bleach has been killing germs for more than 200 years but U.S. scientists have just figured out how the cleaner does its dirty work.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Between 2000 and 2005, the number of annual deaths in the United States due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rose by 8 percent, an increase driven primarily by climbing mortality rates among women with the disease, according to a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Direct administration of an allergen - the substance that triggers an allergic reaction -- into the lymph nodes, rather than the skin, reduces both the number and dose of injections required to induce tolerance to the offending substance, researchers report. This appears to offer a rapid, save and effective way to treat IgE-mediated allergies.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who gain too much weight during pregnancy may not only have bigger babies, but bigger teenagers as well, a study suggests.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A huge boost in federal aid to states for health care programs could help kick-start the moribund U.S. economy where consumer and business demand has fallen dramatically, a former senior Clinton administration aide told a congressional panel on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. adults who smoke has dropped below 20 percent for the first time on record but cigarettes still kill almost half a million people a year, health officials said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Combining two chemotherapy drugs with two targeted therapies was safe and appeared to help patients with advanced lung cancer live longer, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - HIV/AIDS infections will spread like "bushfire" in parts of India if the country fails to check a spike in the number of intravenous drug users, the United Nations AIDS agency said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A vaccine designed to protect women and girls from cervical cancer caused by a wart virus may protect men, too, maker Merck and Co reported on Thursday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A bone marrow transplant using stem cells from a donor with natural genetic resistance to the AIDS virus has left an HIV patient free of infection for nearly two years, German researchers.