Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

GOODBYE, HEARTACHE Patients with mild angina may want to consider taking cholesterol-lowering drugs instead of undergoing angioplasty. Researchers say folks who get their clogged blood vessels opened up with angioplasty feel more robust than those who take very high doses of the drug Lipitor. But they may also be more likely to need future hospitalizations and either bypass surgery or another angioplasty before they're done.

SMOKERS' SCREEN Lung cancer could be caught early--and thousands of lives saved--if smokers and former smokers were routinely screened with C.T. scans. Unlike conventional chest X rays, the supersensitive scans can spot tiny malignancies before they cause any symptoms--and while they're still small enough to be treated. Bottom line: up to 80% of lung-cancer patients might survive. The rate is only about 15% today.

BAD NEWS

POOL DAYS Don't drink the water! The chlorine in most swimming pools, doctors say, is not enough to kill off Cryptosporidium, a tiny parasite that can cause diarrhea. Cryptosporidium comes from feces and usually gets into a pool from dirty diapers. Pools may need to be re-engineered so fresh water is pumped in more often. Meanwhile, do the rest of us a favor and put your tots in waterproof diapers before you put them in the pool.

WILD THINGS If you happen to be around caves or attics this summer, consider this: bats that bite are twice as likely to carry rabies as bats that don't. Just like infected raccoons and other animals, rabid bats act aggressively and lose their natural fear of humans. The message? Stay away from the critters--especially if they stand their ground when you approach.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources--Good News: New England Journal of Medicine (July 8, 1999), Lancet (July 10, 1999); Bad News: 1 and 2, Emerging Infectious Diseases (July 1999)