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Strollerderby
Have you been slathering yourself and your kids in hand sanitizer this winter? Most of us have. Those little bottles of alcohol-based gel have become ubiquitous. We find them at the grocery store where we go to grab a cart, at the movie theater when we go to grab a seat, near the doorway of any shopping center and installed in every classroom. In all, three quarters of Americans use six or more germ-killing products every day.
There’s good news for those of us who’ve been rolling our eyes at all the literal hand-wringing we’re expected to do over germs these days. According to a new article in Slate, all those products don’t work to stop the spread of colds and flus.
Swine flu is the big bad of respiratory illnesses this year, but as cases wane experts are reminding us that swine flu isn’t the only thing causes kids to cough and wheeze.
When my girls were two and four, I took them to an urgent care clinic one weekend after their fevers — which had been gone for two days following dual ear infections — suddenly spiked. I wasn’t looking for antibiotics, I was looking for reassurance that they hadn’t developed something nasty. What I got was a stern lecture on antibiotic abuse, a pamphlet repeating the lecture, and a bill for $50.
I was annoyed — he didn’t even examine my kids, after all, and he was really condescending. But that hard line on antibiotic use seems to taming our country’s unhealthy habit of prescribing antibiotics for what’s usually a viral illness.
With cold and flu season just around the corner, it’s a good time to review exactly when to see your doctor when your child develops an ear infection.
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