Shots that protect against cervical cancer do not make girls promiscuous, according to the first study to compare medical records for vaccinated and unvaccinated girls.

The researchers didn't ask girls about having sex, but instead looked at "markers" of sexual activity after vaccination against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV. Specifically, they examined up to three years of records on whether girls had sought birth control advice; tests for sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy; or had become pregnant.

Fungal meningitis tied to a contaminated steroid has affected 205 people in a worsening outbreak of the infection that has killed 15 people in the United States, officials said Sunday.

Fourteen states have been affected by the outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. On Saturday, it had reported 198 cases nationwide.

Scattered across the carefully landscaped main campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are the staff on the front lines fighting a rare outbreak of fungal meningitis: A scientist in a white lab coat peers through a microscope at fungi on a glass slide. In another room, another researcher uses what looks like a long, pointed eye dropper to suck up DNA samples that will be tested for the suspect fungus.

Not far away in another building is the emergency operations center, which is essentially the war room. There's a low hum of voices as employees work the phones, talking to health officials, doctors and patients who received potentially contaminated pain injections believed to be at the root of the outbreak. Workers sit at rows of computers, gathering data, advising doctors and reaching out to thousands of people who may have been exposed. Overall, dozens of people are working day and night to bring the outbreak under control. More than 200 people in 14 states have been sickened, including 15 who have died.

Morocco is seeing an alarming rise in the number of babies abandoned by single mothers, activists said on Saturday, blaming social prejudice and outdated legislation for the problem.

"According to the information we have gathered, from people who take care of abandoned children born outside marriage, the numbers are getting much worse," said Omar Kindi, organiser of a conference on violence and discrimination against single mothers and children.

The Dutch public health watchdog says at least one elderly patient has died and more than 500 people have been sickened in a major salmonella outbreak caused by tainted salmon.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said in a statement Saturday tests have confirmed one death and another fatality is under investigation. Both victims were aged over 80.

A U.S. beverage industry group and other businesses filed a lawsuit Friday against the administration of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg seeking to block restrictions on sales of large soda drinks.

Plaintiffs led by the American Beverage Association and the National Restaurant Association took the city to court over the limited ban, which is due to take effect in March.

 The deadly meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated pain injections has prompted calls for tighter federal regulation of compounding pharmacies, which have periodically been blamed for crippling and sometimes fatal injuries. But this isn't the first time Congress has pushed for more authority over the industry.

Such efforts stretch back to the 1990s, and after vigorous pushback by compounding pharmacists, they have left a patchwork of incomplete, overlapping laws, contradictory court rulings and overall uncertainty about how much power the Food and Drug Administration has to regulate compounders.

About 50 non-governmental organisations on Friday urged the French-speaking nations holding a summit in Kinshasa at the weekend to "make concrete commitments" to fight AIDS in Africa.

"This 14th summit of the Francophonie (group of mainly former French colonies) should be an opportunity for governments of Francophone countries to make concrete commitments in the face of an epidemic that continues to devastate whole societies and undermine development," the NGOs wrote in an open joint letter.

The death toll from a deadly meningitis outbreak in the United States blamed on a tainted drug rose to 14 Thursday as the number of cases jumped to 172 in 11 states, health officials said.

That's up from 12 deaths and 137 cases on Wednesday.

The number of girls who marry before their 18th birthday could increase dramatically over the next two decades, a new U.N. report warned Thursday.

If current trends continue, the tally of such unions will rise to 14.2 million a year in 2020, and 15.1 million each year in 2030, according to the report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).