Health Report

THE GOOD NEWS

-- People between 60 and 70 who receive flu shots are 50% less likely to develop the flu than those not protected, a new study shows. Getting a vaccination may be a particularly good idea for the elderly, who account for almost 95% of deaths from the flu.

-- Relief may be at hand for the needle-phobic: researchers have created a nasal spray that vaccinates mice against Lyme disease. Sprays protecting humans against such diseases as diarrhea and pneumonia are next.

-- The trembling and muscle weakness of Parkinson's disease improved in a small number of patients who received regular electrical pulses to the brain. The patients had fewer painful spasms and were better able to walk and talk after the treatments.

THE BAD NEWS

-- New research shows minorities living in poor urban areas are more likely to die from asthma than any other group, largely contributing to the rise in asthma deaths nationwide since the late 1970s. But the deaths cannot be blamed on more carbon monoxide and ozone clogging the air, since air standards have improved in some American cities. Instead indoor allergens and difficulty in getting health care may have more to do with why asthma is more deadly for the urban poor.

-- More and more black teenage boys are killing themselves -- almost 12 per 100,000 in 1990, nearly double the rate in 1980. Though the rate of suicide for young white males increased less dramatically, the overall number for them is even higher -- almost 21 per 100,000.

Sources -- GOOD: Journal of the American Medical Association, Nature, Neurosurgery BAD: New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Psychiatry