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HEALTH WATCH: NEWS & NOTES
( The Atlanta Journal and Constitution )
ROTAVIRUS VACCINE: A new vaccine against the rotavirus, an infection that kills hundreds of thousands of children worldwide each year, works in developing countries, a study shows. Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in childhood. The vaccine has been tested on nearly 18,000 children and already has been shown to be highly effective in the United States and other developed countries. Some experts, however, wondered whether it would do as good a job in poor countries. The latest study, done in Venezuela on 2,207 infants, used higher doses of vaccine and showed it works as well as in the United States. The report is in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

ZYBAN FOR SMOKERS: Taking an antidepressant medicine appears to double smokers' chances of kicking the habit, says a study published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. The Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of Zyban, also called bupropion, in May to help smokers. The results of several studies with the drug, including the one published today, were made public then.

RACE AND BIRTH WEIGHT: African-born women living in the United States have bigger babies than African-Americans, a finding that researchers say casts doubt on the role of race in birth weight. The researchers said their study, in today's New England Journal of Medicine, does not support the theory that genetic differences explain why blacks are more likely than whites to be born dangerously small. Drug abuse, poor diet, having babies at a young age and other factors linked with poverty increase the risk of having small, premature babies. However, these factors do not entirely explain why low birth weight is a larger problem among blacks than whites. The most recent study examining this problem compared the weights of 90,503 babies born in Illinois from 1980 through 1995. Babies of African-born women weighed closer to white babies than to U.S. black babies. White women's babies weighed an average of 7.5 pounds, African-born women's 7.3 pounds and American blacks' 6.8 pounds.

WHY PEPPER BITES: Scientists have discovered a chemical button that chili peppers push to cause eye-watering, burning pain. Further work might help scientists develop new treatments for some kinds of pain, including sunburn, heartburn and rheumatism, experts said. Chili peppers burn in your mouth because they contain a substance called capsaicin (pronounced cap-SAY-sun or cap-SAY-uh-sun). Capsaicin causes pain by grabbing onto structures called receptors on the surface of nerve cells. Despite more than a decade of looking, scientists hadn' t found a capsaicin receptor until now. The discovery is reported in today's issue of the journal Nature.

DON'T DO IT YOURSELF: Americans' do-it-yourself impulse may go too far when it comes to using common over-the-counter drugs. As many as 8 out of 10 American adults treat themselves with nonprescription drugs for headaches, colds, upset stomachs and fevers before seeking medical help, according to a poll of 1,202 adults conducted for Prevention magazine and the American Pharmaceutical Association. The survey found that 84 percent had used a nonprescription pain reliever at least once in the past year; 76 percent a cough or cold medication and 57 percent a heartburn medicine or antacid. The poll also found one-third of all adults admit they have taken more than the recommended dose of such drugs because they felt they needed more.



Copyright 1997, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, All rights reserved.