[Sanjay Gupta:] This week on YOUR HEALTH the anthrax attacks, one year later. What have we learned? Actually, quite a lot. Runaway teens and the challenges they face. A look at life on the streets. And in South Africa, a new HIV-positive muppet comes to life on "Sesame Street." Those stories coming up as CNN turns its focus to your health right now. Your health, there's nothing more important. Hello, everyone. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Well, this week marks the one-year anniversary of the start of the anthrax attacks. It ultimately killed five people and shocked and scared a nation. For better or worse, we now know a lot more about anthrax how it is spread, how to diagnose it and how to stop it more effectively. But there is much that still remains a mystery.
[Gupta:] The first case of inhalational anthrax at American Media in Florida caught the nation off guard. Experts struggled to learn as the attacks continued in New Jersey, New York, Washington, D.C., and finally, Connecticut.
[Unidentified Male:] We were not as prepared as we should have.
[Gupta:] Washington postal worker Leroy Richmond agrees. He was caught in the crossfire of anthrax letters. He survived, but barely.
[Leroy Richmond, Anthrax Survivor:] It was 27 days I pray to God on the face of this no one on the face of this earth has to go through. No one.
[Gupta:] And before it was all over, five were dead, 22 infected, and Americans everywhere were terrified to open their mail. The postmaster general tried to calm their nerves.
[Jack Potter, Postmaster General:] We believe the mail is safe. It's very safe if you're prudent and if you follow the simple directions that we are asking you to follow.
[Gupta:] But in fact, the mail wasn't safe. Soon, two postal workers in D.C. paid for that mistake with their lives.
[Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institutes Of Health:] There is one communications lesson that we learned from anthrax, is don't be afraid to say you don't know. Don't panic, but don't inappropriately assure people when you don't have all of the data.
[Gupta:] If there was one positive, it is the country today is more prepared than ever for an attack.
[Fauci:] Now, we have experience. We don't need to go to a 50- year-old textbook. We know from last year.
[Gupta:] Before last year's attack, doctors trained in the United States weren't routinely taught to look for bioterrorism, like inhalational anthrax.
[Unidentified Male:] You really don't know what we can expect after a bioterror attack.
[Gupta:] I never learned about bioterrorism in medical school, but now universities across the country are changing the way they train doctors.
[Bridgette Murphy, Public Health Student:] Taking a class like this, I think, is really going to prepare us and help us deal with what is to come.
[Erin Hogan, Public Health Student:] It's just something that we should look at critically to decide how we're going to handle this in the future.
[Gupta:] Because while the future may mean another attack, it should also mean early detection, and maybe even what experts refer to as the Holy Grail, an anthrax vaccine. The government announced Thursday two new contracts to develop such a vaccine. Next time around, this nation plans on being prepared. The nation is headed for a nursing shortage, especially as aging baby boomers enter the health care system in droves. To head off the crisis, the government is tapping into a sometimes overlooked pool of talent. Bill Prasad explains.
[William Skinner, Registered Nurse:] OK. Here is a nice, warm blanket for you.
[Bill Prasad, Cnn Correspondent:] William Skinner is a minority, not just because his skin is black but also because his uniform is green. He's a nurse in a profession that's predominantly female and 86 percent white.
[Skinner:] Certainly males can get into this profession. There's a lot for us to do. The patients certainly are happy with us.
[Prasad:] A U.S. government study says by the year 2010, one million new nurses will be needed. The Bush administration hopes to fill the void with grants to nursing schools totaling $8.4 million. It's aimed at attracting minorities to a suffering health care field.
[Tommy Thompson, Health And Human Services Secretary:] We need to do all we can to attract more people to the nursing field. If we don't, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics will not be able to serve the ill and injured in nearly the capacity that is going to be needed.
[Prasad:] Some universities say enrollment in nursing programs is down by as much as 15 percent since 1995. Women have more choices, and most are not choosing nursing.
[Deborah Brackens, Registered Nurse:] Now the doors are open and there are millions of opportunities for young people, and there are lots of career choices.
[Unidentified Female:] Everything is OK.
[Prasad:] The nation's nurses are aging. The average age is 43.
[Unidentified Female:] In 10 to 15 years from now, as they start retiring, is there going to be a group of nurses to follow that kind of care?
[Prasad:] The U.S. government hopes this infusion of cash will encourage minorities to help fill the depleted nursing ranks when the majority of the population, the baby boomers, needs their care. Bill Prasad, Washington.
[Gupta:] For more news now about your health, let's check "The Pulse." As of this week, the flu season is officially upon us. And this year, with plenty of vaccine to go around, health officials are recommending that a wider swath of the population get vaccinated. The CDC urges those over 65, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions be vaccinated, and this year children between the ages of six months to 2 years are also encouraged to get a shot. The best time to vaccinate is now, before the flu season picks up steam. In the United States, influenza claims 25,000 lives every year. While AIDS remains a huge problem in central and southern Africa, a new government intelligence report also warns that HIV infection could triple in five countries, dwarfing the number of AIDS cases at its current epicenter. Russia, India, China, Ethiopia and Nigeria, all populous countries, are poised on the brink of an AIDS explosion. The trend can be reversed with a rigorous program of prevention and treatment, officials say, but the global community has to pitch in to help governments ill equipped to do it alone. And researchers at the University of Pennsylvania may have found something that we have known all along men are more hotheaded than women. Using MRI scans, they looked at more than 125 brains and found that women's brains had proportionately larger orbital frontal corteces. That part of the brain involved in regulating aggressive behavior. The researchers acknowledge that environmental and cultural factors undoubtedly play a role. For more information on these stories or any story, please log on to CNN.comyour health. And that's a look at the health headlines for this week in "The Pulse." Up next, do you know where your children are? Over a million of America's youths are living on the streets. And later, is it a car wash, a tanning bed, an MRI machine? We'll tell you about the latest treatments to hit the malls. Stay with us.