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

Feds Consider Screening Donated Organs for Rabies

The U.S. government is considering whether to screen donated organs for the rabies virus, following disclosure that three people died after receiving organs from a single donor who showed no signs of the disease when he died from a brain hemorrhage.

Thursday's announcement of the three deaths by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marked the first time that the deadly disease had been spread through solid organ donation, according to HealthDay.

The donor was not screened for rabies upon his death, the CDC said. Rabies is always fatal once symptoms occur, but is treatable if a person is vaccinated soon after being exposed to a rabid animal.

The lungs, kidneys and liver of an Arkansas man who died in May were donated to four people in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama. Three of them died from rabies, while the fourth succumbed on the operating table before developing the disease, the CDC said.

The agency said it is working furiously to track down family members, health-care workers, and others who may have come in contact with the victims. Anyone suspected to have been exposed to the virus will be urged to get shots immediately, HealthDay reported.

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200 Tons of Chicken Products Recalled for Contamination

A North Carolina chicken processor is recalling more than 200 tons of precooked chicken products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday. No related illnesses have been reported.

Crestwood Farms said the 404,730 pounds of suspect meat were produced between May 3 and June 17 and distributed to institutional customers nationwide. Affected products bear the establishment number "EST 17400" inside the USDA seal of inspection.

Pregnant women, children, and others with weaker immune systems who eat contaminated food are at risk of developing listeriosis, a serious infection. A person with listeriosis can develop fever, muscle aches and sometimes such gastrointestinal symptoms as nausea or diarrhea. If infection spreads to the nervous system, symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or convulsions can occur.

To learn more about the recall, contact the company at 336-751-4751.

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Generic AIDS Drugs Prove Effective

The first human trials of generic AIDS drugs shows they work as well as more expensive brand-name medications, The New York Times reported.

The 24-week testing on the 3-in-1 pills followed 60 patients with advanced AIDS in two hospitals in Cameroon. They were given a combination of vevirapine, stavudine and lamivudine -- which are marketed under the brand names Viramune, Zerit and Epivir.

The brand name drugs do not come in 3-in-1 pills, due to differing patents from different manufacturers.

The issue of developing less expensive generic versions for use in underdeveloped nations has political undertones. The United States has refused to finance their development, arguing that there isn't enough proof that the generics are effective, the newspaper reported. President Bush has committed $15 billion to fighting AIDS in the third world.

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CDC Urges More Spa Inspections

Spa inspections often turn up violations of public health laws, sometimes requiring the immediate closing of the tubs, but a new report found that local authorities are not launching enough investigations.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that inspections have revealed violations in 56 percent of cases; the spas had to be shut down on the spot in 11 percent.

According to the report, which appears in the July 2 issue of the CDC publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, there are about 5 million public and private spas in the United States. Inadequate maintenance of the filtration systems and water quality can result in waterborne illnesses in users, such as Pseudomonas and Legionella.

The report found that spa inspections were infrequent at the local level, and that only 20 percent of spa operators had adequate training.

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Celiac Disease Much More Common Than Thought

A panel convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has concluded that celiac disease is "considerably under-diagnosed" in the United States, and that 10 times as many people have it as originally thought.

Celiac disease, which researchers once thought was rare, probably affects as many as 3 million Americans, the NIH now concludes. The panel, whose conclusion isn't official, urged that doctors get more information on screening and treating the disease.

Celiac is a digestive disorder in which the small intestine has a toxic reaction to gluten, a protein commonly found in wheat and other grains. People with it need to avoid foods with gluten, a difficult but manageable process that lasts a lifetime.

"We know that celiac disease is caused by an immune response to the gluten in certain common grains, so we have a very effective treatment -- a gluten-free diet -- but if physicians don't recognize when to test for the disease, patients are going to suffer needlessly," Dr. Charles Elson, chair of the consensus panel, said in a statement. "Because the disease has been thought to be rare, testing for it may not occur to many physicians. We hope that this conference will help to increase physician awareness."

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Report: 4.5 Million Schoolchildren Face Sexual Misconduct

A report issued to Congress finds that as many as one in 10 schoolchildren, or 4.5 million, have endured sexual misconduct at the hands of school employees.

The Associated Press reports that these children will face this misbehavior -- which ranges from dirty jokes to forced sex, and from the unprofessional to outright criminal -- sometime between kindergarten and high school graduation.

"Most people just don't think this can really happen," the AP quotes Hofstra University professor Charol Shakeshaft as saying. "We imagine that all teachers are like most teachers, in that they've gone into teaching to help children. Most do, but not all."

Shakeshaft was commissioned by the Education Department to study the prevalence of sexual abuse in schools. The report was mandated by the No Child Left Behind act, according to the AP.

Critics said it was unfair to pool every misdeed into one report. "Lumping harassment together with serious sexual misconduct does more harm than good by creating unjustified alarm and undermining confidence in public schools," said Michael Pons, spokesman for the National Education Association.

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Dangerous Dogs in Colo. to Get Microchip Implant

Colorado authorities have come up with their own version of an electronic leash for dangerous dogs: an implanted microchip.

A state law that took effect Thursday will force the owner of any dog who has injured someone to have the computer chip placed under the animal's skin, USA Today reports.

The chips are the same ones used to help owners identify and find lost dogs; millions of the devices, the size of a grain of rice, have been implanted.

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