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

China Confirms SARS, Plans to Slaughter Civets

China on Monday announced that a Guangdong man is its first confirmed case of SARS since July. The government also said provincial officials would oversee the slaughter of 10,000 captive civet cats -- a Chinese delicacy that's known to carry a variant of the SARS virus.

After several weeks of uncertainty surrounding the health of the affected 32-year-old TV producer, the Chinese Health Ministry and the World Health Organization confirmed that he does, indeed, have SARS. Previous tests had been inconclusive.

In response, the Beijing government said all civet cats in captivity and perhaps some in the wild would be slaughtered. Research has shown that the SARS virus that infected 8,000 people worldwide beginning late last year was genetically very similar to a virus in civet cats, The New York Times reports.

Adding to the Asian continent's worries, the Philippines announced Monday that it's isolated a woman for possible SARS infection, and has quarantined her husband and doctor as a precaution. News reports say the woman is suspected of contracting the disease while working in Hong Kong.

The sick man in China insists he's had no contact with exotic animals, leaving researchers to wonder how he may have contracted the disease, the Times reports. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, says it's concerned about China's plan to slaughter thousands of cats in the region, saying the government may destroy any evidence that shows how the virus may ultimately have been passed to people.

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Fast Food Linked to Child Obesity

Routine consumption of fast food among children adds about six extra pounds per year to the average person aged 4 to 19, a new study of more than 6,200 youngsters finds.

Lead author Dr. David Ludwig at Children's Hospital Boston says his research indicates that fast-food consumption may have jumped five-fold since 1970, according to his findings published in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The greatest concentrations of young fast-food eaters were found among families with high household incomes, boys, older children, blacks, and also children in the South, according to an Associated Press analysis of the research. The lowest levels of fast-food consumption occurred in the West, among Hispanics, and kids aged 4 to 8.

Recent research suggests that almost 15 percent of American youngsters are obese, the AP reports.

In a different article in the same medical journal, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement saying sugar-laden soft drinks -- a major cause of childhood weight gain -- should be banned from the nation's schools.

"Every school in every district shares a responsibility for the nutritional health of its students," the academy's statement says.

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Football Blows Rival Car Crashes, Study Finds

Football players regularly suffer blows to the head that rival those in automobile accidents, a new Virginia Tech study finds.

The schools' researchers, using sophisticated monitoring equipment attached to players' helmets, found the average player was struck in the head 30 to 50 times per game. They say they're compiling a database of blows to the head among their players, with the hope of measuring how many blows and of what magnitude the brain is able to withstand, the Associated Press reports.

The study leaders say they also hope to learn why some people appear less prone to concussion and other forms of brain injury than others.

The researchers recorded 3,312 hits during 35 practices and 10 games this season, rotating eight specially fitted helmets among 38 players. Offensive linemen suffered the most hits, followed by defensive linemen, running backs, linebackers, wide receivers and defensive backs. Quarterbacks recorded the fewest hits, the AP reports.

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Livestock Tracking System May Take Years to Develop

As U.S. government workers continue to track down cattle that may have come from the same herd as the one infected with mad cow disease, an official has told The New York Times that a national tracking system may take "a year or two" to phase in.

It became evident during the past two weeks that the nation needed to develop a better and more systemized way to trace livestock, because it took some time to discover where the Washington State dairy cow had come from. According to the Times, a new tracking system would be able to find cattle involved or exposed to mad cow disease within 48 hours of discovery.

Meanwhile, investigators say they have tracked nine cows to a herd that included the one infected with mad cow disease in December.

The Washington Post reports that the animals were exported from a farm in Alberta, Canada, to one in Washington state. Finding these animals is critical because of concerns that the animals may have eaten that same contaminated feed that sickened the Holstein diagnosed with mad cow disease.

According to the Post, the farm in Mabton, Wash., has quarantined 4,000 cattle since the one cow was infected. A case of mad cow disease was reported in Alberta earlier in 2003, raising concerns that both cases may be tied to the same source of contaminated feed.

There was also some hopeful news about whether any other infected meat had entered the marketplace. A USDA spokesperson told the Times that while it was "theoretically possible" that some of the missing cows had already entered the food supply, the government considered it unlikely. The suspected herd was all dairy cows, and those animals are not slaughtered until they stop giving milk, which can last for many years.

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MRI the Latest Treatment for Depression?

Undergoing an MRI might offer an uplifting experience.

The Wall Street Journal reports that researchers at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., tested a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on 40 patients who suffered from bipolar disorder. One symptom of bipolar disorder is depression.

The results, which are published in the current issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, indicated that using an MRI on depressed patients makes them feel better.

According to the Journal, 77 percent of those who underwent an MRI with an extremely weak magnetic field felt better after the brain scan.

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