Health Report

By Janice M. Horowitz

THE GOOD NEWS

COLD-BLOODED CURE? Scientists may have discovered an unlikely way to fight Lyme disease: use lizard blood. Though a vaccine or treatment is still far off, early reports show that when infected ticks are bathed in lizard blood, the Lyme-disease bacteria are destroyed.

NO REST FOR THE BREAST Another reason for moms to breast-feed babies: breast milk contains lactadherin, a protein that seems to fight off the virus that causes most infant diarrhea.

TAME TEENS Adolescents who get condoms at school aren't any more sexually active than those who don't. And when prepared teens do have sex, they're more likely to use the protection.

Sources: Journal of Parasitology; Lancet; Alan Guttmacher Institute

THE BAD NEWS

FALSE ALARM Women who undergo a mammogram every year for 10 years face a 50% risk of at least one false-positive result. And there's a 20% chance they'll get a biopsy. But women should keep getting mammograms despite fears of suspicious findings.

PREEMIE PROBLEM Giving the steroid dexamethasone to premature babies helps free them early from a ventilator but increases their risk of infection and can slow their growth.

FIRST DO NO HARM? Adverse reaction to medication is fatal to 100,000 patients in hospitals each year, making this one of the nation's leading killers.

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine (1 and 2); Journal of the American Medical Association

--By Janice M. Horowitz