**** HEALTH NEWS ****
  
Anti-AIDS drug safe for moms, babies  

BOSTON, -- An anti-AIDS drug that protects unborn children  
is safe for infected mothers who wait to undergo anti-retro-  
viral treatment, a U.S. study found. The results are good  
news for poor women in Africa, Asia and Latin America who  
must take the anti-AIDS drug nevirapine, an inexpensive  
drug that often prevents transmission of HIV from mother to  
child, The New York Times said. The study, published Thurs-  
day in The New England Journal of Medicine, found the  
nevirapine drug cocktail was effective if women delayed it  
for six months after taking the protective dose. Doctors  
were concerned that the cocktail would be ineffective  
because nevirapine can remain in the mother's blood for up  
to three weeks, encouraging growth of nevirapine-resistant  
strains if the mother has AIDS. Harvard researchers in  
Botswana said health clinic workers dispensed single-dose  
nevirapine in two forms: a pill for the mother to take  
when labor begins and a syringe of liquid nevirapine to  
squirt into the baby's mouth after delivery. "There was  
real concern that single-dose nevirapine was blowing the  
use of that whole class of drugs," said Catherine Hankins,  
chief scientific adviser for the U.N. AIDS agency.   

Sexual activity can spread virulent staph  

NEW YORK, -- A drug-resistant, virulent form of staph can  
be transmitted by sexual activity, a method U.S. research-  
ers said was previously unrecognized. Scientists at  
Columbia University Medical Center identified three cases  
when sexual activity spread the bacteria known as community-  
associated MRSA, USA Today said. The report is the first to  
document MRSA transmission through heterosexual activity.  
MRSA once occurred primarily in hospitalized patients, how-  
ever a new strain emerged that causes persistent skin in-  
fections in young, healthy people who have not been hos-  
pitalized. In the new study, reported in the Feb. 1 edition  
of Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers studied 114  
households in Manhattan where MRSA infections were identi-  
fied, finding three in which the bacteria was spread by  
sexual activity. Researcher and lead author Frank Lowy  
said the study indicated that people should refrain from  
sex if they have open lesions. "They have to be alert to  
the fact there's a new bug in town," Lowy said, "and one  
potential means of transmission is sexual activity." Since  
MRSA is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, Rachel Gorwitz  
of the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said  
"it's not surprising it could be transmitted during sex."   

Cholesterol drug counters rare condition  

PHILADELPHIA, -- A small study may offer great hope to  
people with lethal cholesterol levels that could cause  
heart attacks, University of Pennsylvania scientists  
said. The researchers found the experimental drug reduced  
blood cholesterol levels by 51 percent in six patients  
with a rare, inherited condition resulting in a lethal  
cholesterol buildup, USA Today said. Familial hyper-  
cholesterolemia affects about 300 people in the United  
States. Patients have LDL, or "bad", cholesterol levels  
of 400 to 600 milligrams per deciliter of blood, well  
above the 130 level recommended for healthy people. Low-  
ering LDL levels by half could add years of life for  
patients, who can have heart attacks in their teens and  
20s, said lead author Daniel Rader. The drug works by  
blockading blood fats in the liver. The only comparable  
treatment is a dialysis that filters damaging fats from  
blood. But it causes fat to accumulate in the liver,  
where it could cause inflammation, scarring and cirrhosis,  
Radar said. Two patients developed traces of fatty liver;  
two others' liver fat content rose by 30 percent. Larger  
studies must be conducted to determine the problem's scope,  
Rader says. The findings were reported in the New England  
Journal of Medicine.   

**** Reader's Submissions ****

Cheering Me On

I close my eyes as tight as they can go.

The lights go off, and my imagination switches on. Pictures flash through my mind like an old film from the fifties.

I remember driving home by myself for the first time. Now, I look into the future and imagine that I am walking across the stage to receive my college diploma. The years pass, and I hear my fianc ? say "I do." I look further and listen to the gentle gurgles coming from my baby's nursery. A smile discreetly appears as memories past and thoughts of the future travel through my soul.

I journey to memories of my high school graduation, and a tear suddenly trickles down my cheek. I look into the bleachers packed with families and friends. I see my parents wrapped in pride, and I look to their side for Katie and Kevin's approval. But Katie, my older sister, is not there.

My eyes abruptly open as I am snapped back into reality. I remember being called out of Spanish class in tenth grade and taken to the hospital to see Katie, who had cancer, for the final time. It was an excruciating task, but I found the good in Katie's tragic death.

Katie's room is exactly the way she left it on a Friday night in September, 1993, when she was carried to the ambulance on a stretcher. Her James Dean poster hangs on one wall; her elementary school track ribbons and collection of porcelain masks hangs on the others. Her bed is neatly made and lined with stuffed animals -- typical of a girl who would visit her sloppier friends and, without prompting, start vacuuming their rooms.

Katie died just a few weeks into her freshman year at the University of Miami. At eighteen she was 5'5'' tall and had straight shoulder length blond hair, big blue eyes, and pale clear skin. Her senior year in high school, Katie was the varsity cheerleader captain and valedictorian.

More importantly, though, she was my best friend. After all, when she was six years old, she had declared herself old enough to take care of her little sister and brand new baby brother, because she thought our mother was not sharing us enough with her. This caring attitude continued throughout her life. Katie would always braid my hair, go shopping with me, and let me go out with her and her friends when I was lonely and bored. Katie would always tutor Kevin, who has a learning disability, when he needed help with his homework. She would continually drill him on his studies until he got it right. Afterwards, she would take him to go get ice cream as a reward. Clearly, Katie was not just our older sister. She was also our teacher, friend, and second mother.

Katie always surrounded herself with friends. She was constantly opening her ears, heart, and arms to someone in need. The phone was constantly ringing and her room was always crowded with people in it. Now, my house is silent.

I realize that getting caught in a pool of depression only leads to drowning. I live by looking for the positive in the worst situations. I now have a relationship with my parents and brother that means everything to me. I know what is important in life, and it is not always partying and getting A's. But most of all, I know that I can handle anything. Life is not easy, but I overcame one of its toughest obstacles.

I believe, the hardest part of death is the experiences it steals. Katie will not be clapping for me when I finally get my college diploma or giving me advice on my wedding day. My children will only hear stories of the girlhood of their aunt, both stories of reality and an imagined future.

I close my eyes as tight as they can go.

A diploma is placed in my hand. "I do" echoes from a distance. Katie says she loves me and hugs me tight on a September afternoon in 1993. Just before I cross my high school auditorium stage, I look out at the spectators in the bleachers, and I see mother and father and Kevin.