Fewer kids being hospitalized for near-drowning

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Half as many kids are sent to the hospital after almost drowning than were two decades ago, according to a new study that suggests public health education campaigns about drowning risks may be working.

Researchers found that hospitalization rates dropped in both boys and girls, and in all age groups, from babies through teenagers.

The findings are consistent with recent research suggesting that fewer kids are dying from drowning now than were in the past.

"I think there have been some very good efforts...to try to educate parents on the importance of helping to prevent drowning at all points in childhood development," said Stephen Bowman, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, who led the study.

Those efforts include encouraging parents to install fences around backyard pools and to make sure kids wear life preservers in open water.

Bowman and his colleagues used a national database that included information on eight million people admitted to about 1,000 hospitals annually to estimate the total number of kids in the U.S. hospitalized for near-drowning.

In 1993, they calculated that an estimated 3,623 kids and teens aged 19 and under were admitted to the hospital after almost drowning, compared to 1,781 in 2008.

That works out to between four and five of every 100,000 U.S. youth being hospitalized annually in the early study years, down to two to three per 100,000 in the most recent years.

The researchers reported Monday in Pediatrics that the drop was due largely to a decreasing number of hospitalizations in southern and western states -- though in those regions more kids are still hospitalized for near-drowning than in the Northeast and Midwest.

Based on their findings, they also estimated that the number of kids who died after being hospitalized fell from
approximately 359 in 1993 to 207 in 2008. That doesn't include kids and teens who drowned and were pronounced dead before making it to the hospital.

Bowman noted that the data can't tell the story of what happens to kids who survive once they're released from the hospital -- which would be important to understanding the true burden of drowning and near-drowning incidents in U.S. kids.

"It's hard to answer the tougher question of, 'Is there long-term cognitive brain damage as a result of (almost) drowning for some of these children?'" Bowman told Reuters Health.

Dr. Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said the findings can't attribute the decline to any one specific public health intervention, but they suggest that parent education efforts are starting to work.

"This trend, this was really remarkable," said Smith, who is also the president of the Child Injury Prevention Alliance, and was not involved in the new study.

However, he told Reuters Health, it's not time to get complacent.

"While this study shows that we're making really good progress, especially in the western and southern regions of our country, we have some sobering data still that this remains one of the leading causes of death among children," Smith said.

"We have still a lot of work to do."

Researchers said that parents always have to stay vigilant when kids and water are mixed.

"Leaving children unattended even for a moment around a swimming pool, especially toddlers -- it's just a recipe for a disaster. It's something we can't reinforce enough," Bowman said.

"Parents need to make sure they're not leaving kids alone, whether it's in the bathtub, or in open water around rivers or lakes, or in a backyard swimming pool."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/jsoh2P Pediatrics, online

Read more »

Posted in: HEALTH

Homeopathic Treatments for Prevention of Colds and Flu

Catching a cold? Homeopathic medicines can help prevent a cold as well as treat the symptoms. The remedies are available in most health food stores and online.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine pioneered by Samuel Hahnemann over a hundred years ago. The remedies work by treating along a specific Law of Cure, described as “like cures like.” Homeopathic pharmacies prepare the remedies according to a specific protocol that involve using the most minute doses needed for a cure.

Homeopathic Remedies to Prevent Colds and Flu

Both of these remedies are most effective when you are first coming down with a cold.

Oscillococcinum is made from the liver of a goose. Geese fly great distances each year. They are exposed to many viruses in their travels, and build up immunity in their livers to each. By taking this remedy, you gain that immunity. It is safe to combine with prescription medications, for children or the elderly, and causes no drowsiness or stimulant effect. There are numerous clinical trials showing good results using this product. It is useful for intestinal flu as well.

DIRECTIONS: Oscillococcinum can be taken every 12 hours to stave off a cold.

Influenzinum is made from the same flu vaccine substances that are prepared by the World Health Organization. It is updated each year and the substance is prepared in dilute quantities, and then homeopathically potentized. The remedy is used instead of a flu vaccine to stimulate the body’s defense system in order to resist the season’s flu strains. Its action boosts the immune system.

DIRECTIONS: Influenzinum is useful after first exposure, in the early stages of a cold, or as a preventative. 

Recommended dosage is once a day for a month.

Homeopathic Remedies for the Early Stages of a Cold.

Aconite is for that cold or fever that comes on within an hour of exposure to a cold wind. It works best in the early stages of an illness with a sudden onset of intense symptoms. The person needing Aconite feels thirst for cold water and restlessness and anxiety. The skin can be red and dry.

Ferrum Phosphoricum is a good remedy at the start of a cold when there are no clear symptoms or weakness with inflammation.

There can be a low-grade fever. The cough is short and tickling and the head is sore and worse movement or cold.

Gelsemium can treat early symptoms of a cold. Gelsemium symptoms include dry throat, dry cough, runny nose, and achiness. The patient may be irritable or have chills running up and down the back. Gelsemium is also a good remedy for bronchitis.

Vincetoxicum treats a rapid onset cold (within 1-6 hours). The symptoms include weakness, leaden tiredness, aching bones and shivering. Vincetoxicum is useful for viral infections as well. The cough is spasmodic and the sore throat feels worse when swallowing. The patient has a low-grade fever but feels very hot, or they can alternate with feeling hot then cold.

Note: If you have a cold for more than 5-7 days, seek medical attention. Or if you become extremely lethargic or weak, visit a doctor immediately or head to the emergency room.

Read more »

Posted in: HEALTH

Pool chlorine tied to lung damage in elite swimmers

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Competitive swimmers who train at indoor chlorinated swimming pools may have lung changes similar to those seen in people with mild asthma, a new study has found.

Researchers from France and Canada compared lung tissue and breathing tests from twenty-three elite Canadian swimmers, whose average age was 21, to ten mild asthmatics and 10 healthy, non-allergic people of the same age. Tissue samples and tests were taken during the off-season when swimmers were not competing.

The team, led by Valérie Bougault at the Lille 2 University of Health and Law in France, found that tissue samples taken from swimmers' lungs had nearly six times as many immune cells associated with asthma and allergies as the lung tissue of healthy subjects -- a similar amount to what was found in the group with mild asthma.

Swimmers and asthmatics also showed evidence of scar tissue in the lungs, while healthy non-swimmers did not.

"This study is the first to show direct evidence of airway damage associated with swimming in chlorinated pools," Alfred Bernard, a toxicologist at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium, noted in an email to Reuters Health. Bernard was not involved in the study.

What these changes may mean remains unclear. "There's currently no evidence to suggest that these changes will lead to asthma down the line," Dr. Sally Wenzel, a pulmonologist at the University of Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health.

Lung tissue inflammation was not associated with actual asthma symptoms, such as coughing and wheezing, or with difficulty breathing during a medical test used to determine lung function.

However, previous research has linked exposure to swimming pool chemicals through water and air to respiratory allergies and asthma.

While acting as a disinfectant, chlorine reacts with a wide range of chemicals from human sweat, urine and hair, for example, to form chlorine byproducts -- some of which are hazardous to human health.

These byproducts are very volatile and can escape into the air above the water, according to Ernest Blatchley, an environmental engineer from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana who specializes in water chemistry.

Competitive swimmers are known to inhale large amounts of these chlorine byproducts while doing strenuous exercise in the pool. Exposure to the chlorine compounds in indoor pools may make swimmers more sensitive to allergens such as pet dander, pollen and dust, wrote Bernard.

Indeed, roughly 50 to 65 percent of competitive swimmers are sensitized to common allergens, compared to 29 to 36 percent of people in the general population, wrote Bougault in an email to Reuters Health.

In the current study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 18 of the 23 swimmers had at least one allergy. While exposure to allergens can cause changes to the lung tissue, "we found changes in the lung tissue of non-allergic swimmers as well," wrote Bougault.

This suggests that exposure to the chlorine byproducts themselves may be causing tissue damage, according to Bougault, who serves on the advisory boards for several major pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline and MerckFrosst, makers of the asthma medications Advair and Singulair.

The researchers cannot say for sure whether repeated exposure to swimming pool chemicals caused damage to the lung tissue. A previous study in elite cross-country skiers showed that the stress placed on lungs during high-level endurance sport training itself might be enough to induce airway changes.

While the effects of exposure to chlorine byproducts on the lungs remains unclear, it's likely the benefits of exercise outweigh potential risks posed by swimming in chlorinated pools, in those with or without asthma, according to Wenzel.

However, there are certain precautions that all swimmers can take at the pool to limit exposure to harmful chemicals, according to Bernard.

He suggested avoiding pools with a strong chlorine smell in the air -- a sign the chemicals in the pool are poorly managed.

One of the best things people can do to reduce exposure to harmful chlorine byproducts is to practice better hygiene, said Blatchley, even in so-called saltwater pools (which are not actually chlorine-free).

"Always taking a shower before entering a pool and not using it as a urinal can cut down on toxic byproducts," he said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/zqlLDT Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online.

Read more »

Posted in: HEALTH