Health Report: Feb. 28, 1994

THE GOOD NEWS

-- Despite fears to the contrary, moderate aerobic exercise after childbirth does not hamper production of breast milk, according to a new report.

-- A public health campaign urging parents to put newborns to sleep on their back has reduced the nationwide incidence of sudden infant death syndrome 12% in just six months.

-- Scientists have synthesized taxol, a promising anticancer drug normally derived from trees in the Pacific Northwest.

-- A genetically engineered antibody has been remarkably effective in attacking a virus that causes pneumonia in mice (and men). Successful trials on humans could lead to a powerful treatment not only for viral pneumonia but also for influenza.

THE BAD NEWS

-- Cocaine puts a strain on the heart, and so does cigarette smoking. Now researchers have proved what common sense already implies: cocaine use by chronic smokers can be doubly deadly.

-- A bacterial infection that can cause skin lesions, fever and even death without prompt antibiotic treatment has been traced to cats. About 25% of felines in a San Francisco study carried the R. henselae bacterium. People with weak immune systems are at special risk.

-- Taxi drivers have a job-related homicide rate of 27 murders per 100,000. That's 40 times the national average, and three times the risk faced by liquor-store workers, the next most endangered group. Gas-station attendants are a distant third.

Sources -- GOOD: New England Journal of Medicine; Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine; Journal of the American Chemical Society and Nature; ; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. BAD: New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of Occupational Medicine