A total of 31 people died from H7N9 bird flu in mainland China in January, the government announced Monday, making it by far the worst month in the outbreak.

There were a total of 127 confirmed human H7N9 cases in January, according to a statement by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).

U.S. health officials have begun to predict the end of cigarette smoking in America.

They have long wished for a cigarette-free America, but shied away from calling for smoking rates to fall to zero or near zero by any particular year. The power of tobacco companies and popularity of their products made such a goal seem like a pipe dream.

Egypt's Health Ministry says the number of people killed by swine flu in the country since December has reached 38.

In a statement Sunday, the ministry said that more than 1,300 people have been hospitalized after being infected by the virus.

Nearly 3 out of 4 U.S. children and young adults consume at least some caffeine, mostly from soda, tea and coffee. The rate didn't budge much over a decade, although soda use declined and energy drinks became an increasingly common source, a government analysis finds.

Though even most preschoolers consume some caffeine-containing products, their average was the amount found in half a can of soda, and overall caffeine intake declined in children up to age 11 during the decade.

Some of the world's biggest drugmakers are playing a larger role in anti-doping efforts at this year's Winter Olympics: They're providing information on drugs that once would have been considered proprietary trade secrets.

GlaxoSmithKline, Amgen and Roche are among the drugmakers that have begun sharing "confidential research and data" with anti-doping officials about experimental drugs they are developing, as part of an effort to stay one step ahead of drug cheats.

This cluster of poor villages, long known for its colorful silk saris, now is known for something else: tuberculosis. Nearly half of Lohata's population has it — some 100,000 people — and the community's weaving tradition is part of the reason it is on the front line of a major Indian health crisis.

The area of Uttar Pradesh state is under unofficial quarantine because of the epidemic. Strangers rarely venture into these villages outside the ancient city of Varanasi. Even rickshaw drivers refuse to enter, turning away the few passengers looking for a lift.

Two doctors have been sent to prison in Brazil for selling contraband organs to the United States as part of a suspected trafficking scheme, law enforcement officials said Friday.

The two men, Celso Roberto Scafi and Claudio Rogerio Carneiro Fernandes, are both urologists who practiced medicine in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

A man has died in Jordan after being infected with the MERS virus, the kingdom's first fatality from the respiratory disease in more than a year, news reports said Saturday.

Another man was reported to have died of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

After nearly two decades of study, the Food and Drug Administration announced rules Thursday designed to make sure that infant formula is safe and nutritious.

Most formula makers already abide by the practices, but the FDA now will have rules on the books that ensure formula manufacturers test their products for salmonella and other pathogens before distribution. The rules also require formula companies to prove to the FDA that they are including specific nutrients — proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals — in their products.

For a year, the patient suffered from a range of worsening symptoms that left doctors stumped.

His heart started failing, his sight and hearing deteriorated, he suffered from acid reflux, swollen lymph nodes and an inexplicable fever. The outlook was grim.