A New Virus
    A New Virus

    The July 2002 issue of Infectious Diseases in Children tells the story of a new respiratory virus, first identified last year. Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) appears to be a significant cause of infecti…

    A Flu Vaccine For Every Child?
    A Flu Vaccine For Every Child?

    In the summer of 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the CDC have both changed their recommendations for the flu vaccine in c…

    Antibiotic Progress? Mixed Results
    Antibiotic Progress? Mixed Results

    Overuse of antibiotics leads to more resistant bacteria and to sicker kids. A survey of physicians published in the June 19, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports a sig…

    Repeat Chickenpox
    Repeat Chickenpox

    Parents express their concern that the chickenpox vaccine might not give lifelong immunity. These parents sometimes want their children to catch "real chickenpox" as kids so that they will never get i…

    It’s Just a Virus
    It’s Just a Virus

    It can be frustrating for parents to go to the trouble of bringing a sick child to see the doctor, only to leave with a vague diagnosis of "some virus" and no prescription to help the child get better…

    Day Care and Colds -- Good News!
    Day Care and Colds — Good News!

    On average, kids in day care during the first three years of their lives get about twice as many colds as their peers during those years. But each time a child fights off a cold, she develops immunity…

    Real Treatment for Diarrhea
    Real Treatment for Diarrhea

    Conventional wisdom says that there is no effective treatment for diarrhea: some medicines may relieve symptoms, but they don't help the child to get over the infection faster. Not so! (more…)…

    Contagious Heart Disease
    Contagious Heart Disease

    Group A strep is a common cause of illness in children. Usually the disease is as mild as strep throat, but strep can also cause serious illnesses, including toxic shock, "flesh-eating disease", and r…

    Pleconaril -- Cure For the Common Cold?
    Pleconaril — Cure For the Common Cold?

    There is a lot of buzz about pleconaril, a new drug that makes a runny nose completely clear up a day sooner than usual and begins to ease the symptoms within a day. But we don't have to wait while th…

    How Deadly are Anthrax and Smallpox
    How Deadly are Anthrax and Smallpox?

    All mortality estimates for bioterror agents should be taken with a grain of salt. The mortality rate for inhaled anthrax in the 20th century was 85%. Many people expected that what was true in 1976 w…

    Protestor hold a sign - Immunization for Smallpox and Anthrax?
    Immunization for Smallpox and Anthrax?

    Routine smallpox vaccination was discontinued in 1972, more than 20 years after the last smallpox case in the United States. Before September 11th, I heard from many parents who felt that vaccines suc…

    Preventing Anthrax Infection
    Preventing Anthrax Infection

    Wash your hands after handling the mail ? any mail ? according to new recommendations from the US Postmaster General. This comes after a postal worker apparently contracted cutaneous anthrax not from …

    College and Meningitis
    College and Meningitis

    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. The first year is the critical time. Freshmen li…

    Mother and child blowing nose. Has this child had too many infections?
    How Many Infections Are Too Many?

    Is the immune system okay? AIDS is the most famous disease affecting the immune system, but there are more than 70 different immunodeficiency diseases that are not caused by viruses. Together they aff…

    High Fevers, Brain Damage and Febrile Seizures
    High Fevers, Brain Damage and Febrile Seizures

    Dr. Greene's perspective on high fevers... Many parents fear that fevers will cause brain damage. Brain damage from a fever will not occur unless the fever is over 107.6 degrees F (42C) for an extende…

    Preventing Colds With The Right Milk
    Preventing Colds With The Right Milk

    Dr. Greene's take on preventing colds in children... Giving children milk that contains Lactobacillus appears to decrease the rate and severity of respiratory infections, according to a study in the J…

    Walking Pneumonia
    Walking Pneumonia

    When physicians diagnose someone with walking pneumonia, they are usually referring to an infection with an organism called Mycoplasma pneumoniae. (Apart from being a pain, mycoplasmas are kind of coo…

    Bad Breath and Children
    Bad Breath and Children

    Dr. Greene's perspective on bad breath in kids... Most kids would go out of their way to avoid eating garlic or onions, yet it is not unusual for a child to wake up with very smelly breath. Throughout…

    Measles Outbreak - Extremely Contagious
    Measles Outbreak – Extremely Contagious

    Dr. Greene's advice for a measles outbreak... Did you know that airborn transmission of measles can occur just by being in the same room as someone with the disease? You can even catch the disease up …

    Stuffy Noses Good?!
    Stuffy Noses Good?!

    Those seemingly endless childhood stuffy, runny noses may be protecting your child. The chances of developing either asthma or eczema appear to be decreased in children who have had repeated head cold…