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

China Confirms 1 SARS Case, Denies Another

China's latest report on recent potential SARS cases is mixed.

On one hand, the government reportedly has confirmed that a 20-year-old waitress who worked at an eatery where civet cat had been served does, indeed, have SARS. Hong Kong television says the woman, hospitalized in Guangzhou since the end of December, is the country's second confirmed case in the past month. Civet is a Chinese delicacy that is thought to carry a variant of the SARS virus.

By contrast, Beijing officials are denying that the most recent suspected case, first reported Monday, also has the disease. The official Xinhua New Agency says the man, who lives in the southern city of Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong, instead has bacterial pneumonia.

The recent flurry of confirmed and suspected cases of SARS has World Health Organization officials warning against hasty overreaction to the possibility of a second SARS epidemic. Health officials in China and other potential hotspots should be careful to weed out cases of cold and flu, or risk over-taxing their fragile medical systems, WHO spokesman Bob Dietz tells the Associated Press.

"No one wants to overdiagnose, which is just as dangerous as underdiagnosing in terms of overloading the health care system," he tells the wire service.

SARS first emerged in the Chinese province of Guangdong in late 2002, sickening more than 8,000 people worldwide and killing 774 before subsiding last June.

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Breast Cancer Drug Ineffective Against Lung Cancer

A drug that has proven effective in extending the lives of many breast cancer patients does not appear to significantly help people with lung cancer, the Associated Press reports.

In general, people treated with Herceptin in combination with two chemotherapy drugs fared no better than people treated with the chemo drugs alone, German researchers report in the European journal Annals of Oncology.

On a slightly positive note, the 100-patient study found that a handful of patients with a particular genetic profile might be helped by the three-drug combination, the AP reports. But experts tell the wire service that the tiny fraction of patients who could benefit is so small that resources would probably better be directed elsewhere.

Herceptin is among a new class of drugs called targeted therapies that attempt to thwart cancer's spread by disrupting the internal signals that cancer cells use to fuel their uncontrolled growth.

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Therapy Better Than Light Boxes for Seasonal Disorder: Study

Cognitive behavioral training may be more effective than standard treatment with light therapy in treating people with seasonal effective disorder (SAD), according to new research reported by the Washington Post.

SAD is triggered by decreased exposure to the sun during the shorter days of winter. Light therapy involves people sitting in front of a box that emits certain frequencies of light for at least an hour a day. But about half of patients don't respond to the treatment, and relapse is common, the newspaper reports.

These unhappy conclusions led researcher Kelly Rohan, assistant professor of medical and clinical psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, to wonder if people with SAD might fare better with cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT is a form of talk therapy in which patients are taught to identify and change the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to psychological problems -- including symptoms like anxiety and depression.

Rohan found that CBT alone was more effective than light therapy alone, and that 80 percent of study participants "responded completely" when the two were combined, the Post reports. And rates of relapse were dramatically lower among people who had CBT, the newspaper adds.

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U.S. Blood Supplies Run Dangerously Low

Blood supplies have fallen to critically low levels throughout much of the United States, prompting the nation's blood banks to appeal for immediate donations.

The national inventory levels have fallen well below a safe and adequate supply. Certain vital blood types are nearing depletion, and in some parts of the country elective surgeries are being postponed or cancelled, says the American Association of Blood Banks, America's Blood Centers and the American Red Cross.

The agencies say blood supplies traditionally run low in January, due to the holidays, travel schedules, bad weather and sickness.

People are asked to contact their local blood centers to make an appointment to donate. To donate blood, an individual must be healthy, at least 17 years old, weigh 110 pounds or more, and meet other donor requirements.

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Discovery of Mucus Blocker Could Aid Asthma Fight

An international team of researchers has discovered a compound that blocks the production of excessive mucus, which could point the way to better treatments for asthma, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

Scientists working with asthmatic mice found that excess mucus production could be sharply reduced or eliminated using a peptide called MANS. It blocks the protein that causes the excess secretion, the Associated Press reports. Mucus is a thick fluid produced by mucus membranes, which moistens and protects such areas as the digestive and nasal canals. Excess production of it in diseases such as asthma can block airways.

The findings were reported in the February online issue of the journal Nature Medicine. The research team was led by Kenneth B. Adler of North Carolina State University and included scientists from Pasteur Institute in Paris, the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, and the School of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, Germany.

"These findings could be very important as far as providing direction to eventually lead to therapeutic treatment" of certain respiratory diseases, Adler told the wire service in an e-mail interview.

No side effects were noted in the mice, Adler said, but they were treated for less than an hour. Longer-term studies would be needed to assess the safety of the compound, he added. Nevertheless, depending on the dose, the chemical was effective in reducing excess mucus production in different types of mice, the research showed.

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