Fewer allergies: A possible upside of thumb sucking and nail biting
Follow me on Twitter @drClaire As a pediatrician, I get a lot of questions about thumb sucking and nail biting. Both worry parents a lot: they worry about damage to teeth, about infections, and about teasing from other children. Now a study published in the journal Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says that there may actually be benefits to having your fingers in your mouth. As part of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, researchers in New Zealand followed about a thousand people born in 1972-1973 out until their 38th birthday. When they were 5, 7, 9 and 11 the...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - July 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Asthma and Allergies Children's Health Parenting Prevention Source Type: news

Enterovirus (Non-Polio Enterovirus Infection)
(Source: eMedicineHealth.com)
Source: eMedicineHealth.com - July 8, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: news

When treating stomach bugs, the best solution may be the simplest one
This study underlines what our grandmothers knew instinctively: when it comes to caring for sick children, most of the time, simple is best. Related Post:Protecting your children against Enterovirus D68Why your wheezing baby may need TLC, not medicationHoliday travels: Keeping kids safe and healthyKidney stones are on the riseThe latest on a simple way to help prevent food allergies inThe post When treating stomach bugs, the best solution may be the simplest one appeared first on Harvard Health Blog. (Source: New Harvard Health Information)
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Digestive Disorders Parenting Source Type: news

Summer colds
Most viral infections in summer months are caused by enteroviruses. We studied illnesses in about 400 kids aged 4-18 years seen in private pediatric practice and were surprised by what we found.... (Source: Pediatric News)
Source: Pediatric News - May 10, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: news

Recurrent viral respiratory tract infections during first 6 months and risk of T1 diabetes
The associations between infection types during the first 2 years of life and between respiratory tract infections in the first 6 months and type l diabetes (T1D) have been the focus of recent research. Viral infections, particularly enteroviruses, have been hypothesized to cause T1D. Recent studies suggest that respiratory tract infections are associated with increased T1D risk if they are encountered within the first 6 months. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - May 3, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news

Noah’s story: Enterovirus and a race against the clock
“I’m so excited to babyproof my house,” says Elisa Holt. “I haven’t had to. Now, Noah wants to climb and do all of these normal baby things.” The toddler, born in March 2014, sailed through his first six months of life. As summer turned to fall, enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), a mysterious virus linked with paralysis, started to dominate headlines. On Oct. 3, 2014, Elisa was nursing Noah when she realized something was wrong with her son. “I went to sit him up and he just fell over. I did it again and the same thing happened.” When she realized he wasn’t moving his feet, legs or toes, she called her son’s ped...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - May 2, 2016 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Lisa Fratt Tags: Our Patients’ Stories Department of Neurology Dr. Donna Nimec Dr. Mark Gorman enterovirus D68 Guillain Barre Syndrome Source Type: news

Children's Hospital Colorado experts publish article on the 2014 enterovirus D68 outbreak
(Children's Hospital Colorado) From August to September 2014, a nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) left resources constrained for Children's Hospital Colorado (Children's Colorado) and pediatric organizations throughout the nation. Researchers and operational experts at Children's Colorado looked at the change in hospital resources utilized during the outbreak periods and compared the data to what would have been expected during a calm respiratory season, which allowed the team to indirectly estimate the impact of the virus. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - March 1, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Watch: Mom Says Daughter Remains Partially Paralyzed 18 Months After Enterovirus Infection
Kim Dillashaw said her daughter Kinley Galbreath, 7, can only move her right leg and her left hand months after the infection. (Source: ABC News: Health)
Source: ABC News: Health - February 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health Source Type: news

Mom Says Daughter Remains Partially Paralyzed 18 Months After Enterovirus Infection
Doctors still working to definitively cause link between virus and rare symptom. (Source: ABC News: Health)
Source: ABC News: Health - February 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health Source Type: news

Lead poisoning: What everyone needs to know
Follow me at @drClaire The lead poisoning of thousands of children in Flint, Michigan is tragic — and should never have happened. If we are going to make sure that nothing like it happens again, all of us, especially parents, need to learn about lead poisoning. Lead is a chemical that used to be commonly found in paint, gasoline, and factory emissions. It also was used to make pipes, as well as the solder that holds them together. But once the toxicity of lead was fully understood, there were laws and regulations put in place to limit its use, and to limit the exposure of children and pregnant women to lead. The problem ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - February 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Family Planning and Pregnancy Prevention Safety Source Type: news

Why your wheezing baby may need TLC, not medication
Follow me at @drClaire When a baby is sick with fever, cough, and a wheeze, it’s natural to think that what they need is medication — like an antibiotic, or one of the medications used to treat wheezing in children with asthma (such as albuterol). But it turns out that if a condition called bronchiolitis is the culprit, the best treatment is no treatment. Bronchiolitis is a bad cold (caused by various viruses) that settles into the lungs. When it does, it leads to fever, lots of congestion, cough, and noisy or wheezy breathing. It’s incredibly common. In fact, one in five babies under 12 months ends up at the doctor...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - January 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Cold and Flu Parenting wheezing Source Type: news

Holiday travels: Keeping kids safe and healthy
Traveling with your children can be a great way to explore new places, spend time together as a family, and visit with those friends and family members who don’t live nearby. To have the safest and healthiest trip possible, keep in mind these travel tips. Bring the important things from your medicine cabinet Pack any prescription medicines your child takes. Check to be sure you have enough for the whole trip. Bring commonly used over-the-counter medicines, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), antibiotic ointment, cold medications (as recommended by your doctor), and diphenhydramine (Benadryl...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - December 21, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Health Children's Health Parenting Behavioral Health traveling holiday travel Source Type: news

A Rapid Method for Engineering Recombinant Polioviruses or Other Enteroviruses
The cloning of large enterovirus RNA sequences is labor-intensive because of the frequent instability in bacteria of plasmidic vectors containing the corresponding cDNAs. In order to circumvent this issue we have developed a PCR-based method that allows the generation of highly modified or chimeric full-length enterovirus genomes. This method relies on fusion PCR which enables the concatenation of several overlapping cDNA amplicons produced separately. A T7 promoter sequence added upstream the fusion PCR products allows its transcription into infectious genomic RNAs directly in transfected cells constitutively expressing t...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Infectious Diseases - December 15, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Isolation and Characterization of Enteroviruses from Clinical Samples
Enterovirus infections are common in humans worldwide. Enteroviruses are excreted in feces during infection and can be detected from stool specimens by isolation in continuous laboratory cell lines. Characterization of enteroviruses is based on their antigenic and/or genetic properties. (Source: Springer protocols feed by Infectious Diseases)
Source: Springer protocols feed by Infectious Diseases - December 15, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Isolation and Characterization of Poliovirus in Cell Culture Systems
The isolation and characterization of enteroviruses by cell culture was accepted as the “gold standard” by clinical virology laboratories. Methods for the direct detection of all enteroviruses by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, targeting a conserved region of the genome, have largely supplanted cell culture as the principal diagnostic procedure. However, the World Health Organization’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative continues to rely upon cell culture to isolate poliovirus due to the lack of a reliable sensitive genetic test for direct typing of enteroviruses from clinical specimens....
Source: Springer protocols feed by Infectious Diseases - December 15, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news