Health Highlights: Nov. 13, 2008

• Bone Marrow Transplant Cures AIDSPatient: Report
• Air Pollution Bigger Killer Than Traffic Crashes in 2 California Areas
• No Clear Link Between Bone Drugs, Abnormal Heart Rhythm: FDA
• Gas-Relief Drops for Babies Recalled

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

Bone Marrow Transplant Cures AIDSPatient: Report

A targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to treat leukemia appears to have cured an AIDS patient, according to German doctors.

Twenty months after receiving the transplant, tests on bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues indicate the 42-year-old patient no longer has HIV infection, the Associated Press reported. The patient had beeninfected with HIV for more than a decade.

For the transplant, doctors at Berlin's Charite Hospital selected a donor with a mutation called Delta 32, which prevents HIV from attaching itself tocells by blocking a receptor called CCR5. About one in 1,000 Europeans andAmericans have inherited the mutation from both parents, the AP said.

There have been a few previous reports of the successful use of bonemarrow transplants to eradicate HIV infection. But bone marrow transplantsare too costly and dangerous to use as a first line treatment for HIV/AIDS,Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases, told the AP.

However, this case could inspire efforts to pursue gene therapy as a wayto block or suppress HIV, he said.

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Air Pollution Bigger Killer Than Traffic Crashes in 2 Calif. Areas

Air pollution in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley killsmore people than motor vehicle crashes, according to California StateUniversity-Fullerton researchers who analyzed 2005-07 data to tally thecosts of air pollution.

If the two regions, which have the worst air pollution levels in theUnited States, met federal air standards for ozone and fine particulatestandards, it would result in savings of $28 billion a year in health carecosts, missed school and work, and lost income from premature deaths, theAssociated Press reported. That amounts to $1,600 per person a yearin the San Joaquin Valley and $1,250 in the South Coast Air Basin.

In 2006, there were 2,521 vehicular deaths in the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast Air Basin, compared to 3,812 deaths attributed to respiratory illness caused by particulate pollution, the study authors said.

Previous research has suggested an association between particulatepollution and ozone and respiratory problems such as asthma and chronicbronchitis, as well as a link between particulate pollution andcardiovascular problems.

For economic and health benefits to occur, particulate pollution levelsin the San Joaquin Valley and the South Coast Air Basin would have todecrease by 50 percent, the Cal State Fullerton researchers said.

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No Clear Link Between Bone Drugs, Abnormal Heart Rhythm: FDA

There is no scientific proof of a link between drugs to fight the bone-thinning condition osteoporosis and the heart-rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

A study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine found increased risk of atrial fibrillation in women who took the Novartis drug Reclast or the Merck drug Fosamax, the Dow Jones news service reported.

Weighing in at that time, the FDA noted that studies of Reclast found that the once-yearly injection might be associated with atrial fibrillation.

But on Wednesday, the agency cited "no clear association" between the bone-strengthening drugs, which belong to a class called bisphosphonates, and an abnormal heartbeat.

"After our review based on the data available at this time, health-care professionals should not alter their prescribing patterns for bisphosphonates, and patients should not stop taking their bisphosphonate medication," Dow Jones reported, citing a statement posted on the agency's Web site.

The FDA reviewed studies involving a combined 38,000 patients who took bisphosphonates or a placebo, noting that most of the individual studies had two or fewer cases of atrial fibrillation, Dow Jones reported.