Health Report: Mar. 28, 1994

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THE GOOD NEWS

-- Victims of sickle-cell anemia, who often suffer bouts of pain, can be helped by steroid injections, a new report shows. The length of the episodes, which result when misshapen red blood cells get stuck in blood vessels, can be cut in half, down to about 41 hours.

-- Three months after researchers identified a gene thought to cause half the 15,000 yearly cases of inherited colon cancer, two studies have announced discovery of three genes that may account for most of the rest.

-- Scientists have a new explanation for red wine's apparent protective effect against heart disease: drinking red wine during a meal slows blood clotting.

THE BAD NEWS

-- Lack of funds is forcing poison-control centers around the U.S. to shut down or cut services. The centers handle 2 million calls a year regarding accidental poisonings and other mishaps.

-- AZT'S value in fighting AIDS has come under new doubt. Researchers have found that the drug often makes HIV-infected patients so sick from nausea and fatigue as to outweigh its slight ability to delay the onset of AIDS.

-- A popular Chinese herbal potion has been linked with at least four cases of acute hepatitis, a researcher warns. The product, Jin Bu Huan, is sold in U.S. health-food stores as a remedy for pain and insomnia.

Sources -- GOOD: New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Science, University of Wisconsin. BAD: American Association of Poison Control Centers, New England Journal of Medicine, A.P.