OMNI Postings of 8/3/08
An ER Limerick
by ppr
A drug-seeking crone named Bernie
Feigned pain on the ER gurney
Her curses and screams
Yielded enough morphine
To expedite her Celestial Journey
But I digress…
1) While the incidence of HIV may be worse than previously thought, this graph from CDC shows how the death rate has dropped over the years.
2) This abstract looks at the types of injury associated with kids’ diving. Injuries to the head and/or neck (38.2%) was the most common. The “Double Somersault with Finger in the Nose” was the dive that caused the most injuries..
3) This abstract looks at nearly 600 ALTEs and discovered that of 274 toxicology screen results, 50 were considered truly positive (18.2%), and 23 positive screen results were considered clinically significant (23 of 274 [8.4%]). There was a significant percentage that was related to cough/cold preps. The bottom line is to consider ordering a tox screen when evaluating a case of ALTE.
4) Speaking of kids and their association with cough & cold meds, this abstract surveyed parents concerning this association over a seven-year period. Exposure to antitussives, decongestants, and first-generation antihistamines was highest among 2- to 5-year-olds (7.0%, 9.9%, and 10.1%, respectively) followed by children who were younger than 2 years (5.9%, 9.4%, and 7.6%, respectively). Approximately 1 in 10 US children uses a cough and cold medication in a given week. Do you tell parents about the concerns over
5) Emblematic of this jihad against cough/cold meds & kids, here is an abstract from Arizona that found an association between unexpected infant death and cough/cold meds in 10 cases in 2006. Cause and effect was not proved.
6) Girls are sexually abused in different ways. This abstract tries to determine if there is any connection between types of abuse and symptomatology. Symptoms/signs were highly associated with genital-genital contact: 48% of the girls reporting genital-genital contact had dysuria compared with 25% of girls not reporting genital-genital contact, 72% had genital pain/soreness compared with 32% not reporting genital-genital contact, and 16% had bleeding compared with 4% of those not reporting genital-genital contact.
See ya,
ppr
