The World Health Organization and campaigners launched a drive Friday to try to wipe out mercury in medical thermometers, a day after nations signed a U.N. treaty to control the toxic liquid metal.

"Mercury is one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern and is a substance which disperses into and remains in ecosystems for generations, causing severe ill health and intellectual impairment to exposed populations," WHO head Margaret Chan said in a statement.

Saudi authorities have not yet recorded any cases of the deadly MERS virus ahead of the annual hajj that starts Sunday, with the kingdom hosting some two million Muslim pilgrims.

"So far, no case for any epidemic has been recorded among the pilgrims, especially the coronavirus," local media on Thursday quoted Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia as saying.

Honey, touted as an effective germ-killer, offered no advantages over antibiotics in preventing wound infection in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis for kidney failure, a study said Wednesday.

Over the last decade, honey has gained a reputation as a cheap, safe and effective way of preventing wound infection by bacteria and fungi, even combating germs that are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

An indigenous woman squats in pain after giving birth, her newborn still bound by the umbilical cord and lying on the ground. It's a photograph that horrified Mexicans because of where it took place: the lawn outside a medical clinic where the woman had been denied help, and it struck a nerve in a country where inequity is still pervasive.

The government of the southern state of Oaxaca announced Wednesday that it has suspended the health center's director, Dr. Adrian Cruz, while officials conduct state and federal investigations into the Oct. 2 incident.

A salmonella outbreak in raw chicken has sickened nearly 300 people in the United States, officials said Wednesday as consumer advocates warned the federal shutdown was hampering a government response.

The 278 illnesses in 18 states were believed to be linked to raw chicken from three Foster Farms locations in California, according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

A bacterial epidemic caused by water contaminated with rat urine has hit a flood-ravaged region in the northern Philippines, killing six people and overwhelming local hospitals, a health official said Wednesday.

At least 132 people were infected with leptospirosis in and around the northern city of Olongapo, following deadly flash floods in the area last month, health department epidemiologist for the area Jessie Fantone told Agence France Presse.

European lawmakers Tuesday vote on a long-fought and divisive anti-smoking bill that aims to ban "slims" and menthol cigarettes while tightening legislation on increasingly popular e-cigarettes.

If adopted as stands in an afternoon vote, the legislation before the European parliament will also force tobacco firms to print large health warnings covering 75 percent of packets.

Vesicles, the bubble-shaped vessels that transport molecules within cells, may hold the secret to halting viruses or even combating Alzheimer's, say experts who hailed Monday's Nobel awarded to three leaders in the field.

Thousands of these sac-like cargo vehicles reside in every human cell.

We all live longer when times are good, right?

Not so, according to a new study which says that in developed countries, the elderly have a higher mortality rate when the economy goes into higher gear.

British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said on Tuesday it hoped to get the green light for a prototype vaccine against malaria after trials showed it offered children a partial shield against the disease.

Results for the Phase III stage of the closely-followed RTS,S vaccine were unveiled at a conference in Durban, South Africa, gathering experts on malaria in Africa.