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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

'Natural' Supplements Aren't Necessarily Safe: Magazine

Just because you can easily buy a so-called "natural" supplement in the United States doesn't mean it's safe, the editors of Consumer Reports warned in their May issue. The magazine listed a dozen supplements -- some banned in other countries -- that it said could damage the kidneys, heart, and liver, and cause cancer and even death.

Among the natural and synthetic supplements cited, and the magazine's comments:

• Aristolochia, an herb "conclusively" linked to kidney failure and cancer.
• Yohimbe, a sexual stimulant linked to heart and respiratory problems.
• Bitter orange, an herb that mimics the dangerous stimulant affects of the now-banned diet supplement ephedra.
• Chaparral, comfrey, germander, scullcap, and kava, all known or likely causes of liver failure.
• Lobella, which could damage the heart.
• Pennyroyal oil, which could damage the liver, kidneys, and nervous system.
• Androstenedione, often called andro, a synthetic bodybuilding supplement.
• Organ/glandular extracts from cows and other bovines that may increase a person's risk of mad-cow disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings on the last two supplements cited, but the agency is hampered by a 1994 law that requires it to prove that supplements are unsafe before they can be ordered withdrawn from the market. This runs counter to the methods used to approve prescription drugs, Consumer Reports noted in a prepared statement. The FDA's supplement division also is underfunded and understaffed, the magazine said, operating on a $10 million budget to police a $19.4 billion-a-year industry.

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Polio to be Eradicated by 2005, Thompson Says

The world is likely to eradicate polio by the end this year, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced at a press conference Thursday. If the goal is realized, polio would become the second disease behind smallpox to be eliminated from all but laboratory samples, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. health chief said probably less than 1,000 cases of the debilitating disease remain worldwide, though they are the hardest to find and treat, he conceded. Thompson said remaining polio cases are clustered in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria, and Niger.

Thompson chairs the Global Fund, a two-year-old organization dedicated to fighting polio, tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS worldwide.

While the fund has collected billions since its inception, Thompson lamented that the world is losing the battle against HIV/AIDS. He said 8,500 people die worldwide from AIDS each day, and 14,000 more are infected daily with the virus, the AP reported.

Adding to those sobering statistics, a number of AIDS activist groups projected Thursday that 25 million children worldwide will have lost one or both parents to the disease by the end of the decade, the wire service reported.

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Chocolate During Pregnancy May Make Mom and Baby Happier

Expectant mothers who are chocoholics can take heart in a Finnish study that finds chocolate appears to reduce maternal stress and produce happier babies, the online version of New Scientist magazine reported.

In a study of 300 women, babies born to those who had eaten chocolate daily during pregnancy were more active, smiled and laughed more, and showed less fear of new situations, University of Helsinki researchers found.

The researchers -- while cautioning that their study does not prove a definitive link between chocolate and happier infants -- speculated that chemicals in chocolate associated with positive mood may be passed on to the fetus in the womb, the magazine's report said.

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Recalled Rabies Vaccine May Contain Live Virus

A vaccine used to treat people who may have been bitten by rabid animals is being recalled after samples were found to contain a live rabies virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on its Web site.

The IMOVAX vaccine, produced by Aventis Pasteur, is supposed to contain an inactive form of the Pitman-Moore strain of the virus. However, a live virus was detected in one lot that was never distributed, and four additional lots produced on the same date are being recalled as a precaution, the CDC said. The risk of people becoming infected is considered low because the recalled lots passed quality testing requirements imposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the CDC added.

No adverse reactions relating to the recalled lots have been reported. Lot numbers X0667-2, X0667-3, W1419-2, and W1419-3 were distributed in the United States from Sept. 23, 2003, to April 2, 2004. Additional lots have been recalled overseas, but lot numbers were not immediately available, the CDC said.

People who received the shots during that period are being asked to contact their doctor to see if they received the vaccine from any of the affected lots. People currently undergoing the series of shots are urged to continue them using non-recalled vaccine.

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More Medicare Spending No Guarantee of Better Patient Care

Patients don't necessarily receive better care in states with high Medicare spending, according to a Dartmouth College study that found patients received less effective treatment in states that spent more on medical specialists.

The Dartmouth researchers examined how often high-quality, low-cost treatments proven effective for most people are used by doctors tending to Medicare patients, the Associated Press reported.

The study focused on 24 such treatments, including antibiotics for people with pneumonia, eye exams for diabetic patients, mammograms for older women, and beta blockers and aspirin for heart patients.

The Dartmouth team found that states with the highest Medicare spending made the least use of effective, low-cost basic treatments and spent more on intensive, expensive care.

States with higher Medicare spending also had greater concentrations of medical specialists, while states that spent less on Medicare had more general practitioners and delivered better patient care, the study found.

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Woman Performs Caesarean Section on Herself

A 40-year-old Mexican woman who used a kitchen knife to give herself a caesarean section at home has delivered a healthy baby boy.

It's believed to be the first time that both mother and child have survived a self-administered caesarean section, BBC News Online reported.

The woman lives in a rural area and was eight hours from the nearest hospital. She decided to perform the C-section on herself when she could not deliver the baby naturally.

She drank three glasses of liquor before attempting the surgery. Using a kitchen knife, she sliced open her abdomen in three attempts and then delivered the baby boy, who breathed immediately and cried, BBC News Online said.

One of the woman's children called a local nurse, who stitched the wound and had the mother and baby transferred to the nearest hospital.

The case was reported in the International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

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