Nearly 140,000 people are diagnosed with leukemia each year in the U.S. Leukemia is the most common type of cancer found in children, including Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old who plays Nala in Broadway’s “The Lion King”.

Shannon suffers from a rare type of leukemia known as acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Early symptoms of the disease—fever, fatigue, paleness, bone and joint pain, and infections—are easy to confuse with more run-of-the-mill illnesses like a cold or the flu. That’s what Shannon’s mother thought.

“I started noticing she was very tired and fatigued, and it wasn’t normal,” Shannon’s mother, Odiney Brown, told ABC News. “The day we found out, we immediately admitted our lives had just changed completely.”

AML can quickly go from bad to worse. In order to recover, Shannon will need a bone marrow transplant, and like so many others with the condition, she now struggles to find a donor. Finding an exact match won’t be easy, either, because Shannon is African American and Hispanic—two highly underrepresented donor groups.

Even in the event that a donor is found, it is likely that Shannon will need additional treatment. “It is generally an aggressive disease that requires chemotherapy,” Shannon’s doctor, Dr. Barbara Asselin of Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center, told ABC News. “The first hurdle is to see if we can achieve a remission in the bone marrow and don’t see any more leukemia cells.”

Asselin says the chances of recovery are less than other forms of childhood leukemia, but that she remains optimistic about a cure. For now, Shannon is trying to enjoy life as a normal 11-year-old girl, watching movies at home and chatting online with friends between treatments.

Read more from ABC, or find out how to become a donor through the National Marrow Donor Program.

Ladies, stand up for yourselves in the doctor's office. Millions of people are misdiagnosed each year, and many of these cases are women. Women who are less likely to speak up may put themselves at risk in an already overwhelmed clinic.

If there’s a bug going around the office and you wake up with some of the same symptoms, you’ll likely assume you’ve got it, too. Most doctors think the same way. If he or she sees three people with colds in one day, it would be an easy guess that the next person with a stuffy nose and fever has the same thing.

The problem is that a lot of conditions share symptoms, and it can be misleading if not all the symptoms show up. This makes it easy to make a misdiagnosis—as many as one in five diagnoses are incorrect or go undiagnosed.

For women, the most commonly misdiagnosed conditions include ovarian cancer, autoimmune disease and hormonal imbalances. Heart disease, for example, is more common in men. When women experience the same symptoms, especially young women, a doctor may consider stress to be the cause instead.

The best way to avoid a misdiagnosis is to share all of your symptoms. Seeing the same doctor doesn’t hurt, either. When you and your doctor know your history and get the full story, it’s harder to miss the little details that make a big difference. Finally, don’t be afraid to do some research before your appointment and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

If you don’t stand up for your health, no one will. Get the full scoop from MSNBC.

Keeping the kids home from daycare when there's a bug going around won't necessarily stave off sickness, according to an article on Health Day. Guidelines from AAP and APHA say it's safe for children to go to daycare despite minor illnesses.

Kids share everything, including germs. When there’s something going around at daycare, the temptation to kids home can be too much. Daycare providers often choose to send mildly ill children home so they don’t spread it to others, but their extra efforts may be useless.

“By the time (children) start showing symptoms, the cat’s already out of the bag,” study author Dr. Andrew Hashikawa of the Medical College of Wisconsin told Health Day. By then, chances are the bug has already spread.

The survey included responses of 305 directors of metro daycare facilities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Surveyors from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) briefly described five different illnesses—a cold, conjunctivitis (pink eye), stomachache, fever, and a scalp infection—to directors of childcare facilities to test their knowledge of excluding sick children from daycare.

Based on AAP/APHA guidelines, none of these situations should result in exclusion from daycare, but directors would send as many as 4 out of 5 children home. Although the state has promoted exclusion guidelines to childcare facilities since the nineties, only 38 percent of these directors were aware of the AAP/APHA’s exclusion guidelines.

“If the directors of child care facilities and centers are well-educated and understand the recommended guidelines, then it’s fairly clear which children should stay and which should go home,” Hashikawa said. “This study highlights the need for ongoing training.”

Read the original story on Health Day, or check out AAP/APHA’s book of guidelines on managing ill children in a daycare or school setting.

When it comes to dosages of cold medicine, your kitchen spoons may not be measuring up. Using spoons to measure medicine may be causing you to under or overdose, according to new research in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Spoon dosing has been identified as 1 of the 3 major causes of dosing errors and pediatric poisonings,” authors of the study wrote. “Most persons still use spoons when pouring medicine for themselves and their families.”

Nearly 200 university students were asked to measure what they perceived to be equal amounts of cold medicine into three different spoons—a standard teaspoon, a medium-sized spoon, and a larger spoon.

“We first gave them a full bottle of cold medicine and a teaspoon and asked them to pour exactly 1 teaspoon (5 mL),” authors of the study explain. “Next, we asked participants to pour the same 5-mL dose into each of the remaining 2 spoons in a randomized order.”

Standard dosage for most cold medicines is usually between 2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons. Although most participants were confident that they’d measured accurately, they measured 8.4 percent (.42 mL) too little when using the medium-sized spoon, and 11.6 percent (.58 mL) too much when using the large spoon.

Although that may not seem like much for per dose, a little change in medicine can make a lot of difference. According to study leader Dr. Brian Wansink of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, this can add up to the point of ineffectiveness or even danger.

They also point out that this could reach farther than the kitchen at home. Even the most practiced nurse or Dr. Mom could be measuring incorrectly when using spoons because the size of the spoon makes the same amount appear differently.

“Simply put, we cannot always trust our ability to estimate amounts," co–author, Dr. Koert van Ittersum, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Georgia Tech, said in a press release. "In some cases it may not be important, but when it comes to the health of you or your child, it is vital to make an accurate measurement."

Lauren Johnson has been sneezing a lot lately. Up to 12 times a minute, every day, almost all day, for a month. Lauren, 12, has been diagnosed with PANDAS, a disorder linked with strep.

PANDAS, Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus, is a rare new syndrome causing controversy in the medical world.

“In this condition, what typically happens is, following a strep infection like strep pharyngitis, the child will develop a sudden onset of either tics or OCD-type behavior,” pediatric neurologist Dr. Rosario Trifiletti said in an interview with MSNBC. “In many patients, they have a tendency towards tics, and the strep infection can make it a lot worse.”

PANDAS usually develops sometime between age three and puberty. Symptoms include OCD or tic disorders, episodic severity, hyperactivity/adventitious movements, and association with streptococcal infections. Episodes are associated with separation anxiety, mood changes, bed-wetting and disturbed sleep.

If a child has a strep infection with episodes on three different occasions, this may be a sign he or she has the disorder. There are currently no lab tests that can confirm the disorder, and there is currently no know cure for PANDAS.

Still, Lauren’s mother, Lynn, has found some relief in knowing why her daughter can’t seem to stop sneezing:

“It’s bittersweet,” she says. “We have a direction to go towards, but there’s not a lot of answers. There needs to be more research done, more funding for research, more answers so we can treat her effectively.”

Lauren is being treated with antibiotics and steroids for the disorder. Luckily, Lauren says she’s getting used to the sneezing.

Batten down the hatches and break out the vitamin C. Cold season is officially here, and it’s possible to get two strains at once!

Two new studies of human rhinovirus (HRV), the common cold, have welcomed a new cold bug to the family. Previously, there were only two known species of the virus—HRV-A and HRV-B. Now a third, HRV-C, can be added to the list.

The HRV-A and HRV-B species alone represent different strains of the virus, 99 to be exact. What’s surprising is that HRV-C, which has an additional seven strains, appears to be a hybrid of both.

Researchers of the first study discovered the new species while doing genome sequences for all 99 strains of the original HRV set. Genome sequencing allows scientists to break down and more closely examine a virus’ RNA to find different combinations of genetic material.

When a person carries two strains of a virus, the strains can come together to exchange this material, a process called recombination. Because the new species shares characteristics of both HRV-A and HRV-B, researchers have concluded that it is possible for a person to carry both strains at once. So yes, you can have two colds at once.

“Coinfection with multiple HRVs is known to occur,” authors of the second study write, “We now know that this can lead to strains that may have distinct biologic properties and clinical characteristics.”

The second study examined 64 Chinese children, many of whom had what they called a “triple infection.” Many had a form of rhinovirus and another respiratory virus (such as the flu), but some had two rhinovirus strains in addition to another respiratory virus.

When the body hosts a cocktail of viruses, this makes it easier for different strains to exchange RNA and multiply quickly. Further investigation suggests that there may actually be another species of the cold on the way—HRV-D.

Researchers of the second study plan to continue exploring HRV genetic material, and hope this will help lead to better treatment and more effective medications.

“The clustering of small clades (biological groups), the recombinations, and the mutations found in all regions of these genomes suggest that future HRV epidemiologic studies might benefit from full genome sequencing rather than the more limited serotyping,” they say.

New software using cell phones may allow doctors to analyze coughs and diagnose respiratory illness, including pneumonia.

“A cough is one of the most common symptoms of illness and a common mode of disease spread,” says researcher Suzanne Smith, PhD, of STAR Analytical Services. “Yet we don’t use technology in any way to measure or understand what coughs mean.”

The program is designed to distinguish different coughs using acoustic vocalization analysis, a way to distinguish different audio tones. Researchers hypothesize that the sound of coughing varies by illness, and that these subtle differences may be enough to determine which illness a patient has.

If this is true, it could mean greater accessibility to medical services for individuals who live far from a doctor. An early diagnosis would also help determine what treatments are necessary and ensure that patients receive the proper medications they need to recover.

Efforts are currently focused on pneumonia,  a disease that kills 1.8 million children every year. Most of them live in developing countries. Software capabilities, if initially successful, are likely to grow. Cell phones could potentially be used to diagnose everything from the common cold to influenza.

The project is in its beginning stages, but the possibility of such a program could save millions of lives, not to mention billions of dollars in health care costs.

Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Global Health Program says that this is the exact sort of thinking it will take to tackle the world’s health challenges.

"I'm excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs," he says.

You may not realize that you’re taking too much of a popular pain reliever. The most widely used medication in the United States, acetaminophen (Tylenol), is effective in relieving mild to moderate pain and reducing fever—when used at the recommended dosage. When more than 4,000 milligrams of acetaminophen are used a day, however, it can harm the liver. Acetaminophen overdosage causes an estimated 56,000 visits to emergency facilities each year and is the most frequent cause of liver failure.

Although the problems have been recognized for years, they recently gained more scrutiny. The Federal Drug Administration has taken a closer look at the safety of over-the-counter and prescription medication containing acetaminophen. Last week, an FDA joint advisory committee gathered to discuss safety questions surrounding acetaminophen. They made several recommendations, such as lowering the maximum daily dosage and strengthening the labeling.

And, manufacturers may be asked to play a bigger role in helping prevent overdoses. One issue: many remedies contain acetaminophen along with other medications. Consumers may not be aware they are swallowing acetaminophen along with both prescription and over-the-counter remedies. A majority of acetaminophen-related deaths have involved opioid/acetaminophen combination products, such as acetaminophen/oxycodone (Percocet) and acetaminophen/hydrocodone (Vicodin). Typically, the package warning labels concentrate on the more potent opioid drug.

Although the FDA is not required to accept the recommendations of its advisory committees, it usually does so.

To help protect yourself from overdosing on acetaminophen, Daniel A. Hussar, PhD, Remington Professor of Pharmacy at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, offers these tips:

• Know that APAP is the abbreviation for the chemical name of acetaminophen and, if found on the list of ingredients, means the product contains acetaminophen.
• For occasional, modest pain, consider starting with a dose of 500 mg (rather than 1000 mg).
• Be aware there are two concentrations of nonprescription acetaminophen for children. The infant formulation is more concentrated than the formulation for older children. Make sure you understand the concentration level before giving medication to a child.
• Check the dose of acetaminophen that is included in any combination medication. Ask your pharmacist if you are uncertain.
• For over-the-counter cold and flu remedies, seek products that treat just the symptoms you have. For sneezing and a runny nose, for example, a product containing an antihistamine and a decongestant would be sufficient.

For more information on acetaminophen, see the Pharmacist Activist Newsletter. For information and support on relieving back pain, a very common pain complaint, see the Healia Back Pain Guide. And talk to others about treatment and relief at the back pain online health community and support group.

Reported cases of swine flu in the United States are continuing to climb since last week. On Monday, the World Health Organization reported that 40 cases of swine flu have now been confirmed in the United States.  However, there are breaking reports that there have been 28 cases of swine flu among high school students in a New York City school. Many more cases are likely.

Swine flu is mainly spread from person to person when the virus is carried in droplets from coughing or sneezing of infected people. You can also become exposed by touching contaminated surfaces, such as doorknobs, and then touching your mouth or nose. In the past, most cases of swine flu in people were those who were in close contact with pigs. The swine flu virus may be shed by infected people beginning 1 day before symptoms and up to 7 or more days after symptoms start. 

Typical symptoms of swine flu are similar to the regular flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some infected people have also reported diarrhea and vomiting with the new swine flu.

The regular seasonal flu vaccine does not cover the new swine flu virus, but there are ways to reduce your risk of getting swine flu. Here are 7 tips for preventing the swine flu from affecting you:

• Regularly wash your hands with soap and water for 15 to 20 seconds. Try to do this after you cough or sneeze or touch surfaces in public places. If soap is not available, carry an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue whenever you cough or sneeze. And immediately dispose of the tissue after use.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth as the flu virus can enter your body that way.
• Avoid close contact with sick people and avoid places with large numbers of sick people such as hospitals.
• If you have flu symptoms, call your doctor to see if you should receive one f the recommended prescription drugs. The swine flu virus is susceptible to the prescription flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.
• If you think you may have the flu, stay home from work or school and avoid close contact with family members and others.
• Avoid direct contact with pigs. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products.

Share your tips about how to stay away from the swine flu or ask a question about swine flu on Healia Communities.


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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization are closely monitoring the outbreaks of a new type of swine flu in the United States and Mexico to avert a potential flu pandemic. The outbreak has killed at least 16 people in Mexico and infected eight people in the United States. All the American cases have recovered. 

The new strain of flu virus is unusual because it contains gene segments from swine, bird, and human flu virus strains. It is believed that some infections were transmitted from person to person instead of from pigs

On Friday, Mexico City health officials closed schools across the city, urged people with flu symptoms to stay home from work, and encouraged people to take precautions such as regular hand washing.

Health officials have warned for many years that new flu virus strains such as the current one could precipitate a global flu pandemic, which could kill millions of people. The pandemic of 1918-19 resulted in at least 40 million deaths worldwide.

The CDC has not yet recommended against traveling to Mexico. The current season’s flu vaccine does not protect against the new swine flu virus but the CDC is apparently working on a swine flu vaccine. People cannot catch swine flu from eating pork or pork products.

Have a question about swine flu? Ask the medical students at Healia Communities.


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