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| Sunday, December 31, 2006 |
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Newsletter - January 2007
Sunday, December 31, 2006 :: 803 Views :: Newsletters |
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Welcome to the first installment in 2007 of Parkside News. Just like last year, you can look forward to this e-newsletter being delivered on a monthly basis right to your inbox! Not only will we be keeping you informed on the latest happenings at Parkside Pediatrics, but we will be touching upon many medical issues facing our patients and their families.
If you find a particular story interesting or informative, feel free to forward the message onto a friend who might be interested in learning more too by using the link at the bottom of the newsletter. If for any reason you decide that Parkside News is not for you, unsubscribing is not only safe but also very easy-- just click on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the newsletter. We thank you for the opportunity to serve as your pediatricians and look forward to seeing you soon. Hope you enjoy!
| Parkside Physicians to speak at the St. Francis Great Expectations Event |
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January 27, 2007 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Fluor Campus
The second annual Great Expectations event is the premier educational experience for parents to-be, generously presented by Whole Foods, Babies 'R' Us, MY102.5 and WSSL100. Whether you are expecting or planning for a baby, St. Francis Women's & Family Hospital offers a large breadth of services for this important time in your life.
Learn more on topics from breastfeeding to caring for baby at the education stations, enjoy special presentations about skin care and packing the right diaper bag, and allow our physician experts to answer your questions about pregnancy. St. Francis Great Expectations is a free event but registration is required. Please call 864-255-1314 to reserve your space (and receive a special gift at the event).
Featured Presentations "Fitness and Nutrition: During and After Pregnancy" Dr. Tiffany Rhodes Upstate OB/GYN Associates "Help! What's Happening to My Wife? A Dad's Perspective on Pregnancy" Dr. Harvey Sikes Greenville East Center for Women "We're Having a Baby: New Parent Concerns" Dr. Rebecca Keith Greenville East Center for Women "Common Pregnancy Questions Answered" Highlands Center for Women "Physician Care for Baby: Checkups and Beyond" Parkside Pediatrics www.parksidepediatrics.com
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| Refer a friend to Parkside! |
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One of the greatest joys we receive as pediatricians is in cultivating relationships with families and getting to see children grow up. The rewards of taking care of a newborn on their first day of life and then seeing them mature into a strong and determined child is amazing. We look forward to the day when we can attend our newborn patients' college graduations and weddings.
We know that by now, you have likely already been oriented to our office and spent some time with the doctors and staff. With the understanding that we are a new practice, we thank those of you who have hung in there when we have hit the occasional bump in the road. It is our hope that Parkside Pediatrics has created a healthcare environment that meets or exceeds all your expectations as to what a pediatrician office should be.
We have many new perks that will be rolling out in 2007--iPod listening stations in the teen waiting area, and a secure web portal where prescriptions and appointments can be requested and vaccine records can be viewed. In addition we will be developing a program aimed to provide you more communication possibilities with your child's doctor by developing a system for emailing questions and answers about non-urgent medical concerns.
Parkside Pediatrics is committed to providing quality compassionate medical care to upstate families. By inviting a friend to come by and visit with us, you are helping us carry out this mission. We would be VERY GRATEFUL if you might take the time to plug the Parkside name to a friend, co-worker, or neighbor and invite them to come by the office to meet with one of our doctors to see if Parkside might be a good fit for them.
Thanks for all your continued support and encouragement-- having patients like you makes our job the best in the world!
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| What is Rotavirus? |
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Rotavirus is a RNA virus that causes a significant vomiting and diarrhea illness. The acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines) caused by rotavirus has come to be known by many different names: "Infantile diarrhea", "winter diarrhea", "stomach flu", and "acute viral gastroenteritis" are other names given to this disease.
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in children, killing approximately 600,000 children every year in third world countries who do not have access to clean water supplies and IV fluids.
Most of the time here in the US, rotavirus is a self-limited disease characterized by vomiting, watery diarrhea, and low- grade fever. Symptoms often start with vomiting followed by 4 -8 days of diarrhea. In some patients a temporary lactose intolerance may occur following the illness.
Rotavirus is transmitted through the fecal-oral route. The dose of virus needed to cause infection is thought to be 10-100 infectious viral particles, and because a person with rotavirus diarrhea often excretes extremely large numbers of virus, infection can be readily acquired through contaminated hands, objects, or even utensils. Person-to-person spread through contaminated hands is probably the most important means by which rotavirus is transmitted in close communities such as day care facilities and inside the home. So, the take home message is WASH YOUR HANDS!
Recently, a vaccine against Rotavirus has been developed and has been shown to be safe and effective in children. These vaccines are taken orally and contain disabled live virus.
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The Truth About Ear Infections--The Medical Treatments (2nd in a Three Part Series)
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Imagine this--You are at home with a fussy child who has mucus dripping from her nose and you just measured her temperature at 102 degrees. She has been pulling at her left ear for the past day. What do you you do? How do you know if your child has an ear infection?
The first thing that needs to happen is for your child to be examined by a well trained physician who has experience looking in children's ears. Very often cerumen (earwax) is blocking the view of the eardrum and will need to be removed by using either an ear curette or washed out using a water pick. After the eardrums are visualized, a diagnosis of acute ear infection can be made when infection/pus is seen behind the eardrum.
So, now that we have reviewed the bacteria that cause ear infections (part one of this series) and the method for diagnosing ear infections--the question is, what can we do about it? Well, I'm glad you asked. Currently, amoxicillin is the drug of choice for uncomplicated ear infections for several reasons--it is very effective against most bacteria that cause ear infections, it has an excellent safety profile, low cost, and the pink color and bubble gum taste makes giving it a breeze. Treatment usually lasts for 10 days.
Occasionally patients develop an ear infection that is not responding to the first line medication. Usually, this will be evident in a child who remains febrile and fussy even after several days on amoxicillin. If this is the case, your pediatrician might choose to switch the antibiotic to Augmentin, a sort of supped-up amoxicillin. Augmentin is good as a second line agent because it will cover against some bacteria that are resistant to plain old amoxicillin. However, the down side of using Augmentin is the nasty diarrhea that almost always occurs—so watch out!
Rarely, there is a stubborn ear out there that just won’t get better. If that is the case we might be forced to turn to one or more injections of an antibiotic called Rocephin. Depending upon the specifics of the ear infection, your pediatrician should recheck the ear anywhere from several days to several weeks following the diagnosis and treatment.
Hopefully this helped to answer a few more questions about ear infections. Tune in next month when we discuss the indications for placement of ear tubes.
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