Professor, Sir Richard Doll, the epidemiologist and former Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, has died at the age of 92.

Sir Richard, along with Professor Austin Bradford Hill, of the Medical Research Council were the first two scientists to link smoking with lung cancer

China's official news agency Xinhua reports a mysterious disease has killed 17 farmers in southwestern China. 41 more are been hospitalized.

Preliminary investigations reveal the victims became infected after butchering sick pigs or sheep. Xinhua also says those affected have developed symptoms like high fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting

Chinese authorities are denying that a mysterious outreak in Sichuan, which has killed at least 17 people, is SARS or bird flu.

According to state media reports, the killer is likely a bacteria, spread among pigs

At least 17 farmers have died in the last few weeks from a mystery illness that seems to stem from contact with sheep and pigs either living or slaughtered.

"There were three or four possibilities for what the latest outbreak could be, but it would be irresponsible to speculate," says Bob Dietz, a spokesman for the World Health Organization

At least nine people have died of a mysterious disease in a southern Chinese city.

Those who have died have developed fever-like symptoms, vomiting and internal bleeding. According to media reports the disease is apparently linked with pig farming