Health | WPN World People News

"The world won't end AIDS without PEPFAR."

Infant surrounded by protective malaria bed net in Ghana.

A smoking-cessation medication may be a viable option for the treatment of alcohol dependence, according to a study by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The study found that varenicline (marketed under the name Chantix), approved in 2006 to help people stop smoking, significantly reduced alcohol consumption and craving among people who are alcohol-dependent.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues, have discovered that a gene called BACH2 may play a central role in the development of diverse allergic and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, asthma, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, and type-1 diabetes.

The World Health Organization said the global death toll from a SARS-like virus has risen to 30, after three new deaths were reported in Saudi Arabia. Health experts are scrambling to understand the new virus.

Free yourself! This is WHO's message to governments on World No Tobacco Day 2013.

Some studies have identified a link between colorectal cancer and obesity. Researchers are exploring a possible link between early onset colorectal cancer and pesticide use.