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

China Reports First Suspected SARS Case in 9 Months

The SARS virus may have reared its head in China again, according to the country's official Xinhua news agency.

A 20-year-old female, identified only by the surname Li, was hospitalized in Beijing April 5 with symptoms of fever, cough, and shivering. On Wednesday, test results for two separate antibodies came back positive, indicating a high likelihood of the disease, Xinhua said.

Some 171 people who may have come in contact with the woman, who is a nurse at a Beijing hospital, are being monitored for possible exposure, the news agency said. Two family members who originally accompanied the woman to the hospital subsequently showed signs of fever, and were immediately isolated.

In November 2002, the world's first-ever SARS outbreak is thought to have begun in southern China's Guangdong province. The virus spread quickly to several other countries in Asia and to Canada. The World Health Organization finally declared the outbreak under control in the summer of 2003, but not before the germ had infected some 8,000 people worldwide, killing more than 770.

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U.S., China Resolve Trade Dispute Over Mad Cow

China has agreed to resume importing U.S.-made cosmetics, which had been suspended following January's revelation that a cow in Washington state had been diagnosed with mad cow disease, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced.

While some cosmetics do contain bovine-derived ingredients, the FDA said it provided credible documentation to the Chinese government that the affected cosmetics did not contain animal-derived ingredients that had been banned in China.

The Chinese import ban had threatened to cost U.S. cosmetics manufacturers more than $100 million a year, the FDA said.

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New Drug Counters Immobility in Parkinson's Patients

The Bertek Pharmaceuticals drug Apokyn (apomorphine) has received FDA approval to treat periods of immobility that affect some people with Parkinson's disease.

During these "off-period" episodes, medically known as "hypomobility," some people on standard anti-Parkinson's drugs can lose the ability to speak, rise from a chair, or walk. These episodes tend to occur as the drugs begin to wear off between dosing cycles.

The debilitating condition affects about 10 percent of the patients who take standard Parkinson's therapies.

The preventive drug Apokyn must be taken with another medication to counter its nasty side effects, which include severe nausea and vomiting, the FDA said. The drug's labeling also includes specific warnings about low blood pressure, fainting, hallucinations, and excessive sleepiness.

Apokyn received priority "orphan drug" status approval, which is granted to therapies to treat conditions that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States, the agency said.

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Scientists Use Two Female Mice to Create Offspring

Two genetic mothers -- no father -- have been used to create mice offspring.

It's the first time this has been done in any mammal. The breakthrough research, which used DNA from the two female mice, was achieved by a team of Japanese and Korean scientists and is reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

But human males don't need to worry that they may become irrelevant in matters of reproduction. Due to technical and ethical difficulties, the procedure used to create the offspring from the two female mice can't be used in people, the Associated Press reports.

This research actually helps scientists better understand why both mice and humans require a male's DNA to reproduce. The study findings may also have implications for using human stem cells to treat disease, experts said.

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Atlanta Worst Place in U.S. for Spring Allergies

Here's sneezing at you, Atlanta.

The capital of Georgia ranks first in a list of top 100 spring allergy capitals and worst places in the United States for allergy sufferers this spring. The list was released Wednesday by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA).

The rankings are based on the impact that key environmental and medical factors have on the severity of allergies in each city or area.

Joining Atlanta in the top 10 spring allergy capitals for 2004 are: Augusta-Aiken, Ga., Louisville, Ky., Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C., St. Louis, Austin-San Marcos, Tex., Springfield, Mass., Little Rock, Ark., Knoxville, Tenn., and Allentown-Bethlehem, Penn.

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Dolly Creators Want to Clone Human Embryos

The U.K. scientists who created Dolly the cloned sheep are seeking permission to clone human embryos to use in research on motor neuron disease.

Their application for a license from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is expected to spark criticism that using human embryos for this research is immoral, BBC News Online reports.

Professor Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh said his team has no intention of producing cloned babies. The embryos would be destroyed after they've been used for the research. Wilmut said it would be immoral to not take this opportunity to use cloned embryos to study diseases.

Since 2001, therapeutic cloning for research has been legal in the U.K.

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