More than one in five U.S. high school students smoke, putting themselves at risk of disease and premature death, health authorities said Thursday.

The smoking rate of 23 percent among U.S. adolescents is higher than in the adult population, of whom 18.1 percent smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sierra Leone's Ebola burial boys wrap the highly-infectious body and present it to the family for dignified last goodbyes before it is taken gently away.

Removal of the dead is a necessarily traumatic experience for those left behind, but the process is a far cry from the way things used to be done.

India has defended a state-run program that offers poor women cash incentives to get sterilized after the deaths of 13 women triggered international condemnation.

Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said it was a "misconception" that India set sterilization targets for local authorities in an effort to control the growth of its billion-plus population.

A surgeon working in West Africa's Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola and will be flown to the United States for treatment on Saturday, according to a person in the federal government with direct knowledge of the case.

The surgeon, Dr. Martin Salia, will be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the person said. A Sierra Leone citizen, the 44-year-old Salia lives in Maryland and is a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to the person, who was not authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity

Semen appears to interfere with microbicide gels to prevent HIV, possibly explaining why they work in the lab but not in real-life situations, scientists said Wednesday.

Protein fragments found in semen hamper the work of microbicides applied to the vagina, said the report in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Think the reason some people live beyond the age of 100 is because of their genes? Think again.

U.S. scientists said Wednesday they've found no genetic secrets shared between a group of 17 supercentenarians, or those who have lived beyond 110.

Scientists have discovered gene mutations that give people naturally lower cholesterol levels and cut their risk of heart disease in half.

That discovery may have a big implication: A blockbuster drug that mimics these mutations has long been sold without evidence that it cuts the chance of heart disease. Results of a large study that looked for that evidence will be revealed on Monday.

Health workers on the frontline of west Africa's Ebola crisis pleaded with G20 leaders on Thursday for more resources, describing horrific working conditions as they attempt to contain the deadly outbreak.

Liberian nurse Laurene Wisseh said health workers had been reduced to using plastic bags in an attempt to cover themselves due to a lack of rubber gloves and protective suits.

Indian police announced Thursday they had detained the doctor behind botched mass sterilization surgeries that left 13 women dead, as campaigners called for urgent reform of the government's family planning program.

R.K Gupta was seized for questioning amid mounting anger over the tragedy in central Chhattisgarh state where women were paid to undergo a procedure that also left dozens in hospital, senior police officers said.

Furious protesters took to the streets in central India on Wednesday, smashing up cars and demanding the chief minister resign, as the death toll from a mass government-run sterilization program rose to 13.

Another 14 women are seriously ill in Chhattisgarh state after the surgery, which women are paid 1,400 rupees ($23) to have under a government scheme to reduce population growth.