The hospital at the epicentre of South Korea's deadly MERS outbreak started to resume normal operations Monday, as officials moved closer to declaring a formal end to a crisis that triggered widespread panic and choked the local economy.

The past two weeks have seen no new reported cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which killed 36 people since the first case -- diagnosed May 20 -- developed into the largest outbreak of the virus outside Saudi Arabia.

AIDS researchers released a call to action Sunday for a worldwide shift in HIV treatment, to providing medication immediately after diagnosis instead of first watching for signs of illness to appear.

"Immediate antiretroviral (ARV) treatment more than doubles an individual's prospects of staying healthy and surviving," said the Vancouver Consensus, a statement signed by leading AIDS scientists and officials at the opening of the International AIDS Society (IAS) conference, in this western Canadian city.

Alzheimer's has ravaged generations of Dean DeMoe's family — his grandmother, father, siblings — all in their 40s and 50s.

DeMoe himself inherited the culprit gene mutation and at 53, the North Dakota man volunteers for a drug study he hopes one day will end the family's burden.

The four remaining patients infected during Liberia's recent string of Ebola cases have recovered, meaning there are currently no confirmed cases in the country though more than 100 people are still under surveillance, a health official said Friday.

"There are no Ebola cases anywhere in Liberia as we speak," Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told The Associated Press.

Europe's aviation watchdog on Friday recommended expanded mental health and medical checks of pilots after a rogue airman apparently deliberately crashed a Germanwings jet in March, killing all 150 people on board.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said pilots should "undergo psychological evaluation" during training or before entering service and face random drug and alcohol tests, although investigators have not cited those substances as factors in the Germanwings tragedy.

Officials in Georgia, Indiana and Ohio have ordered investigations of Planned Parenthood facilities in their states to determine if organs from aborted fetuses were being sold.

The investigations — as well as probes announced Wednesday by three Republican-led congressional committees — come in response to the release of an undercover video made by anti-abortion activists. The video shows Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services, discussing procedures for providing fetal body parts to researchers.

Philippine authorities said Thursday the poison in a batch of candy that sent nearly 2,000 children to hospital was likely a common germ from dirty hands or sweaty armpits.

Health Secretary Janette Garin appealed for better hygiene standards in the food industry, as she announced test results indicating a bacteria found in human skin and hair likely contaminated the sweets.

Scientists in India have developed a low-fat version of ghee that cuts the cholesterol content by 85 percent in a move that could give a much-needed boost to fitness levels, a senior researcher said Thursday.

Ghee, a form of clarified butter, is a staple of Indian cooking and also used in traditional medicines and as an offering during religious festivals.

Palestinian students were greeted like celebrities upon arrival in Caracas. President Nicolas Maduro wore a kaffiyeh headdress and played up their symbolic importance during an address broadcast across the socialist South American country.

"Today, Palestine enters the heart of Venezuela," Maduro declared in November when he greeted the first 119 recipients of a medical school scholarship, adding that the historic exchange with a key ideological ally had made him cry.

The unprecedented degradation of Earth's natural resources coupled with climate change could reverse major gains in human health over the last 150 years, according to a sweeping scientific review published Thursday.

"We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present," said the report, written by 15 leading academics and published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet.