Patients who successfully battled cancer during childhood face an extraordinarily high rate of chronic illness during their grown-up years, according to study published Tuesday.

The research released by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) tracked 1,700 adult survivors of childhood cancer, and found that the vast majority were combating one or more chronic ailments.

Singapore is fighting back against a rapidly worsening dengue epidemic by distributing insect repellants to every household and recruiting hundreds of disease control officers, officials said.

Two Singaporeans have died from the virus so far this year and weekly cases hit an all-time high of 820 in the period ending June 8, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

Apricus Biosciences Inc. said Monday that its impotence drug Vitaros has been approved in 10 European countries.

The company said Vitaros is now approved in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and the U.K., among other countries, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Apricus sought marketing approval for Vitaros in specific countries, and says the decentralized process was faster than seeking approval by the entire European Union.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the overall U.N. goal of halting and reversing the spread of AIDS will be met by the target date of 2015.

But the U.N. chief told the General Assembly Monday that despite the "important progress," more must be done to target AIDS in countries and communities where it is still spreading — and this will require additional funds.

Singapore is telling doctors to be more vigilant against dengue fever as the mosquito-borne disease surges this year.

The Southeast Asian city-state has had more than 9,000 cases and two deaths since January. The illnesses counted so far in 2013 are already twice the total for all of last year.

The Obama administration said Monday it would comply with a judge's order to allow women and girls of any age to purchase emergency contraception, ending its efforts to restrict the drug's availability.

The reversal on the politically sensitive issue means that anyone, including young girls, will soon be able to purchase the popular Plan B One-Step morning-after pill over the counter, without a prescription.

Atomic medicine has "fantastic potential" for fighting deadly, difficult to treat cancers, the head of French nuclear giant Areva's medical arm told Agence France Presse in an interview.

"We are interested in tumors against which the current therapeutic arsenal is very limited -- like ovarian, gastric and pancreatic cancers -- where the needs are huge and patients are waiting," explained Areva Med chief Patrick Bourdet.

Only 14 patients from China's H7N9 bird flu outbreak are still in hospital, national health authorities said in their latest update on the disease.

A total of 131 confirmed human infections of the virus have been recorded on the Chinese mainland, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said.

An international team of scientists said on Sunday they had sequenced the genome of the duck as part of an investigation into a natural source for avian influenza.

Ducks and other fowl are carriers of bird flu virus, which can mix among pigs and humans in close proximity, mutating into more dangerous forms.

Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski on Sunday called for drug decriminalization at the opening of a global conference to curb the spread of HIV, with backing from the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The four-day conference in Vilnius focuses on "harm reduction" or programs that seek to help intravenous drug users, one of the highest-risk population groups for the AIDS virus.