Kent Brantly always wanted to be a medical missionary, and he took the work seriously, spending months treating a steady stream of patients with Ebola in Liberia.

Now Brantly is himself a patient, fighting for his own survival in an isolation unit on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, after contracting the deadly disease.

McDonald's in Japan is increasing its checks on chicken from vendors in China and Thailand after allegations a Chinese supplier sold expired chicken. It says the scare will hurt its earnings.

The U.S. fast-food chain's Japan unit on Tuesday withdrew this year's earnings and sales forecasts, citing uncertainties from the food scandal.

A $1,000-per-pill drug that insurers are reluctant to pay for has quickly become the treatment of choice for a liver-wasting viral disease that affects more than 3 million Americans.

In less than six months, prescriptions for Sovaldi have eclipsed all other hepatitis C pills combined, according to new data from IMS Health. The prospect of a real cure, with fewer nasty side effects, is enticing thousands of patients to get treated for the first time.

The deadly Ebola virus can spread like a forest fire, U.S. health authorities said Monday, urging travelers to West Africa to take extra precautions amid the largest outbreak in history.

Since March, there have been 1,201 cases of Ebola and 672 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

South Korea on Monday reported its second case of foot-and-mouth disease in less than a week, triggering fearful memories of a devastating 2011 outbreak that forced the culling of millions of livestock.

A senior Agriculture Ministry official confirmed the second case in a pig farm in the southeast province of North Gyeongsang, but played down the threat.

One in almost 3,000 blood donors in England carry the hepatitis E virus (HEV) which can cause liver disease, said a study Monday that sparked a call for screening in Europe.

Published on World Hepatitis Day, a study in The Lancet medical journal said a systematic analysis of donated blood showed that 79 out of 225,000 donations were infected with a version of the virus, genotype 3, most prevalent in developed countries.

Alarm soared in west Africa Monday over the deadliest Ebola virus outbreak yet, with an American doctor and a missionary contracting the disease in Liberia and the death of the first victim from Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. 

Samaritan's Purse, a Christian charity, said that its physician Kent Brantly was in stable condition and had been isolated at the group's Ebola treatment center at the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia.

McDonald's outlets in Beijing and Shanghai have yanked their flagship burgers off the menu after a key U.S. supplier recalled products made by its Shanghai factory, which is alleged to have used expired meat.

Authorities in Shanghai just over a week ago shut a plant owned by privately-held OSI Group for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product and later detained five officials from the OSI subsidiary which operated it, Shanghai Husi Food Co.

A U.S. doctor working with Ebola patients in Liberia has tested positive for the deadly virus, an aid organization said.

Samaritan's Purse issued a news release Saturday saying Dr. Kent Brantly was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia, the capital. Brantly had been serving as medical director for the aid organization's case management center there.

In Kinshasa's Gambela market shoppers can find insects for every occasion -- from unctuous white weevil larvae for fancy dinners to crispy caterpillars and snacky termites that stick in your teeth.

They may be an unbeatably cheap source of protein, but DR Congo's many insect connoisseurs insist they also have real gastronomic value. And the crowds pressing around the insect sellers at the market show that the Congolese can't get enough of them -- crushed, boiled or fried.