Infectious Disease
Optimizing Immunity
Here is the ABC and the XYZ of maintaining and promoting the function of our natural immunity. (more…)…
Fevers, Flu and Tylenol
Many of us still think of fever as an enemy. While a fever can be a warning sign of an illness raging within, the fever is fighting for your child, not against. This was again confirmed in a study in …
Antibiotic-Resistant Pneumococcal Bacteria Are An Ever Greater Problem
Multidrug-resistant strains of pneumococci are common in the US and continue to increase -- especially in children under age 5 -- according to a report published in the December 28th, 2001 issue of th…
Chicken Pox Vaccine
No matter how much is known about a vaccine before it is licensed for routine use, after it has been used in millions of people it is possible to discover side effects that are too subtle or too rare …
AIDS Risk
HIV is a time-bomb. Because the moment of infection is silent, and because the symptoms of AIDS often don't show up until many years later, we may be misled into thinking that HIV is not a major probl…
Autism Bacteria?
We now know that ulcers, once thought to be stress-induced, are often caused by a bacterial infection. What if autism where an infection? Ellen Bolte, a self-trained computer programmer and mother of …
Sinusitis Treatment Guidelines
The July 2000 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery features the Sinus and Allergy Health Partnership's scientific, evidence-based guidelines for choosing the appropriate antibiotic for treati…
CDC Recommends Routine Hepatitis A Vaccine For All Children
In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended routine Hepatitis A vaccination for children in high-risk areas. Hepatitis A is a serious, debilitating disease that can be sp…
Prevnar Vaccine Available to Prevent Ear and Sinus Infections
Antibiotic-resistant pneumococcal infections have become a major health problem. In 2000, the FDA approved Prevnar, a vaccine that provides protection against 13 types of pneumococcal infections ? the…
When Are Kids Too Sick to Attend Daycare?
"I'm sorry, but your child can't come back to daycare until she starts antibiotics." Statements like this led to a study that was published in the February 2000 issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adol…
Does RSV Cause Asthma?
In the Northern Hemisphere it's the season for respiratory illnesses. Children with RSV bronchiolitis usually wheeze. Often these same children go on to develop asthma. My hunch has been that RSV does…
Isn’t tuberculosis a thing of the past?
I was asked this question by a mother whose son had just gotten a TB skin test. Tuberculosis is a current problem. The population of our planet has now grown to over 6 billion people. At Grand Rounds …
Health Revolution in Mexico
I sat enthralled at Grand Rounds as I listened to Jose Santos, M.D., Director of the National Vaccine Program for Mexico. While we struggle with the subtleties of further lessening the side effects of…
Long Nights in the ER Just Got Shorter
Croup season is approaching again for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Two studies cited in Pediatric News (33(8):12, 1999) independently report that a single oral dose of dexamethasone is now …
Sinus Infections: We Had it All Backwards!
Dr. Greene on why why we had it backwards in treating sinus infections... When children were diagnosed with chronic sinus infections, they were treated with longer and stronger antibiotics. A study in…
Southern tick-associated erythema migrans-like illness
A new infectious disease has been described, having caused documented illnesses in Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia (Pediatric News. 33(7):12, 1999). This disease, transmitted vi…
Is It Empty Nest Time At Your House?
When your child first packs up and heads off for college, it is a bittersweet moment. How horrible if meningitis were to make the separation permanent. College students get meningitis 2.6 times more o…
Measles completely eliminated in USA
When the measles vaccine was first introduced, the number of cases of the disease plummeted. But a few years ago, new outbreaks prompted a reevaluation of the vaccine. In some people the immunity had …
Prenatal HIV Testing: Is It Worth It?
Dr. Greene's take on prenatal HIV testing... The number of babies born in the United States who are infected with HIV has dropped dramatically since 1992, according the August 17th, 1999 edition of th…
Fast Facts about Rotaviruses
Rotaviruses are the leading cause of both routine vomiting and diarrheal illnesses and of severe, life-threatening diarrhea in every country in the world. Click here to read more about rotaviruses. (m…