Treatment of scoliosis – a condition that creates a sideways curve in the spine – is a wait-and-see proposition. For the more than 100,000 kids diagnosed each year, it goes something like this: wear an embarrassing back brace daily, visit a spine specialist every four to six months for a checkup and X-rays, and when you’ve stopped growing you’ll find out whether or not you need surgery.
“There is often a great deal of anxiety, and it’s so universal,” explains orthopedic surgeon Baron Lonner, M.D., director of Scoliosis Associates in New York City. While he maintains that bracing is still a good form of treatment, and still necessary for many kids, he acknowledges the stigma kids in braces can feel. “They feel incarcerated,” he says.
But a new genetic test called Scolioscore has the potential to put an end to the waiting and wondering. For some kids it could mean less time in the brace and fewer doctor visits, while others get needed surgical treatment sooner. Read on …
If someone in your family has a serious case of the flu – especially this season – there is a chance your doctor will prescribe Tamiflu (oseltamivir) to help dampen influenza symptoms and keep the illness mild.
The flu is big news this year. And with the first rounds of H1N1 vaccine – not to mention the regular seasonal flu shots – not due out until mid-October, those little coughs are likely to get a little extra attention during the next couple of months.
If your teen comes down with unexplained sore throat, fever, aches and pains and your doctor orders an HIV test, it’s worth finding out which kind, according to Allison Agwu, M.D., pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Flu-like symptoms are common during the earliest stages of HIV infection, but the most commonly used rapid HIV test often results in false negatives at that stage. Experts estimate that around 14 teens become infected with HIV every day in the U.S. If your teen shows severe flu-like symptoms, and a few pointed questions lead you to believe she or he is sexually active or has used injectible drugs, consider asking your doctor about a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which can accurately detect the virus during those early weeks. 
In a consumer alert published yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that using Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel, Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs, or Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, Kid Size could permanently take away your sense of smell. The products contain zinc and are intended to treat the common cold, but the agency says they haven’t been shown to be effective. What’s more, since they came on the market in 1999, FDA has received more than 130 reports of people losing their sense of smell after using them. The agency recommends that consumers stop using these products and throw them away. 
A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored study has concluded that citalopram – sold under the brand name Celexa and one of the more frequently used medications for children with autism – is ineffective in decreasing repetitive behaviors, and could even increase them. The 12-week clinical trial included 149 kids ages 5 to 17 with autism, and researchers said the result was “not at all” what they expected.
Acetaminophen, branded as Tylenol in its most popular OTC form, has long been relied on by parents to bring down fevers and quell aches and pains (including Mom’s headache). But a report released this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends adding warnings to labels and making changes to dosing to help reduce chances of overdose and the liver damage it can cause.
