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Abstract
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....Pandas
Most practitioners are aware of the proposed clinical entity PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococci), which I and many other streptococcal experts believe has not been proven to be a specific entity. Although both streptococcal pharyngitis and certain neurobehavioral disorders (obsessive compulsive disorder, tics, Tourette's, perhaps others) are quite common in children, an etiologic connection has not yet been confirmed.3 A recent New York Times review4 of the book Infectious Madness: The Surprising Science of How We ‘Catch’ Mental Illness by Harriet Washington5 unfortunately appears to accept the validity of this unproven relationship even though the great preponderance of scientific evidence on this topic has been nonsupportive. It is unfortunate that PANDAS is frequently in the lay press, but it may be significant that the book reviewer is writing a book about autoimmune disease and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Gun Violence
As pediatric health care providers, we are of course concerned about the health of all children. It is depressing to learn that 693 children age 0 to 11 years and 2,685 teens (age 12 to 17 years) were killed or injured by gun violence in the US in 2015 (9.3 incidents per day), which was an increase from 628 and 2,371 in 2014, respectively (8.3 incidents per day).6 Overall, gun violence-related deaths increased from 12,575 to 13,322 and injuries from 23,040 to 26,914.7 The trend is obvious and highly tragic. Gun deaths (including suicides) for the first time in 2014 reached the number of traffic fatalities, and exceeded vehicle deaths in 21 states and the District of Columbia according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.7 Studies show that a gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be involved in a family homicide, suicide, or accident than being used in self-defense.8 More than 1.5 million children live in homes with loaded, unsecured guns, and they are 16 times more likely to be killed than in a home where the guns are secured or where there are no guns.8 How can this be tolerated in our society? How can we begin to make inroads against this epidemic? ....
Language: en |