Your Health

By Amanda Bower

GOOD NEWS

BEATING DEET While cats may be wild about catnip, mosquitoes seem to hate it. Nepetalactone, its fragrant essential oil, turns out to be 10 times as effective as DEET, the chemical in most commercial bug repellents. Two years ago, the same researchers showed that Nepetalactone was repugnant to cockroaches.

VACCINES CLEARED Two of the most common childhood vaccines cause no long-lasting harm, even in kids who experience rare seizures after immunization. The biggest-ever study of side effects from the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTP) vaccines concludes fears of autism and developmental problems are unfounded.

BAD NEWS

SMOKING MOMS Pregnant teens are smoking more than they were five years ago, despite reductions in all other age groups. Among expectant 18- and 19-year-olds, a disturbing 1 in 5 smokes. They appear either unaware of or unconcerned by possible links to low birthweight, retardation and behavioral problems in their unborn child's later life.

NURSING NIGHTMARE For-profit nursing homes give worse care than public and not-for-profit ones, the first large-scale comparative study finds. Investor-owned homes provided 27% fewer nursing hours per patient and were almost 50% more likely to be cited for deficiencies in administration and care.

--By Amanda Bower

Sources: Good News--American Chemical Society national meeting (8/27/01); New England Journal of Medicine (8/30/01). Bad News--CDC (8/28/01); American Journal of Public Health (9/01).