A little-known side to the government's health insurance website is prompting renewed concerns about privacy, just as the White House is calling for stronger cybersecurity protections for consumers.

It works like this: When you apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, dozens of data companies may be able to tell that you are on the site. Some can even glean details such as your age, income, ZIP code, whether you smoke or if you are pregnant.

A virulent group of TB germs spread from East Asia in waves propelled by industrialisation, World War I and Soviet collapse to yield some of the drug-resistant strains plaguing the world today, a study said Monday.

Researchers' massive trawl through nearly 5,000 TB samples from 99 countries pinpointed changes in the DNA code to draw a partial family tree of the germ Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Karunawathie isn't hungry for breakfast. She rarely is these days, but she forces herself to choke down a few bites of rice, dried fish and a simple coconut mix. The doctors say it's better to have something in her stomach before the four-hour dialysis treatments.

She's going for her second session of the week, dressed all in pink, right down to her flip-flops. Her fingers and toes are fat with fluid, and her spongy arms feel like soft water balloons. Since she can no longer pass liquids on her own, doctors have told her to drink only 500 milliliters a day — equal to less than a can and a half of soda.

Prevention of waterborne diseases is a priority in Malawi where floods have killed at least 176 people, an aid official said Sunday.

Malawi's heavy flooding has displaced at least 200,000 people, submerged whole villages in some areas, destroying homes, drowning crops and washing away livestock.

Diseases linked to lifestyle choices, including diabetes and some cancers, kill 16 million people prematurely each year, the World Health Organization said Monday, urging action to stop the "slow-moving public health disaster".

Unhealthy habits like smoking, alcohol abuse and consuming too much fat, salt and sugar have sparked an epidemic of diseases which together constitute the leading cause of death globally, WHO said.

The Malian government and the United Nations on Sunday declared the country free of Ebola after 42 days without any new cases of the deadly virus.

Health Minister Ousmane Kone said no confirmed cases had been registered since December 6 when the last Ebola patient had tested negative.

A 32-year-old Taiwanese man has died after a three-day gaming binge at an Internet cafe in the island's south, the second such case this year, a report said on Saturday.

The man, identified by his family name Hsieh, was found slumped motionless in his chair in the cafe in Kaohsiung city.

A Dutch dentist suspected of mutilating dozens of patients in France has been detained in a special prison psychiatric unit, a judicial source said.

Dubbed the "horror dentist" by the media, Mark van Nierop, 50, claims to suffer from "psychological problems" including gender identity issues and suicidal tendencies, which he had cited in a failed attempt to challenge his extradition from the Netherlands.

Two people have died of the H7N9 strain of avian flu in China's eastern province of Fujian, state media said Saturday, quoting local health officials. 

Fujian has confirmed 15 cases since the start of 2015, Xinhua news agency reported. It did not say when the two patients died.

Insurer Aetna has made new hepatitis C drugs from Gilead Sciences Inc. preferred treatments for customers with the liver-destroying virus.

Aetna Inc. said Friday that it's reached a deal with Gilead bringing discounts for Sovaldi and Harvoni, which have list prices of about $84,000 and $94,000, respectively, for a course of treatment. The amount of the discount wasn't disclosed.