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TOMS RIVER, New Jersey, September 11, 2007--- Community Medical Center has joined a national child health organization in helping to raise awareness of a potentially fatal disease that is associated with aspirin consumption by children with viral diseases such as influenza and chicken pox.
The National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation sponsors Reye’s Syndrome Awareness Month each September to raise awareness of the disease prior to the onset of cold and flu season, which is when Reye’s Syndrome tends to occur.
Laurence DesRochers, M.D., FACEP, chairman of Emergency Medicine at Community Medical Center, notes that Reye's syndrome tends to appear with greatest frequency during the flu season, but adds that cases are reported in every month of the year.
“An epidemic of flu or chicken pox is commonly followed by an increase in the number of cases of Reye's syndrome,” he says. “When it develops, it typically occurs when a person is beginning to recover from a viral illness.”
Dr. DesRochers says Reye’s syndrome occurs when abnormal accumulations of fat begin to develop in the liver and other organs of the body, along with a severe increase of pressure in the brain.
“This is a disease that affects all organs of the body, but most lethally the liver and the brain,” Dr. DesRochers says.“It is a two-phase illness because it is almost always associated with a previous viral infection, such as influenza, cold, or chicken pox.”
While the treatment of Reye's syndrome varies, pediatrician Liesl Pia Iledan, M.D., stresses that it is an acute, rapidly progressive disease that should be treated as a medical emergency.
“Time is of the utmost importance, as the chance of recovery is greatly increased when it is treated in its earliest stages,” says Dr. Iledan, who is a part of a team of pediatricians who staff Community’s pediatric emergency service. “Unless diagnosed early and treated successfully, death is common, often within a few days. The patient’s life depends upon early diagnosis, and statistics show that there is an excellent chance of recovery when Reye's syndrome is diagnosed and treated in its earliest stages.”
To date there is no cure for Reye’s syndrome. Successful management of the disease depends on early diagnosis, when therapy is primarily directed to protect the brain against irreversible damage by reducing the brain swelling.
Community’s Emergency Department boasts a team of physicians who are either board-certified in pediatrics or emergency medicine and who are supported by a team of specially trained nurses who are certified in pediatric advanced life support and highly skilled technicians. In 2005, the hospital unveiled the first phase of an ambitious expansion and redesign of its Emergency Department, including the space that now houses eight dedicated pediatric beds and a number of special amenities for children.
“We have introduced this service to better meet the needs of the approximately 13,000 children we treat annually, and we are lucky enough to have pediatricians and emergency physicians working side by side able to handle the breadth of pediatric emergency conditions,” Dr. DesRochers says. “Providing emergency care to children requires the expertise found in our highly skilled physicians, whose philosophy of care focuses on making kids and parents feel comfortable and secure, whether the emergency involves a minor emergency such as a sprained ankle or earache or life-threatening condition such as Reye’s syndrome.”
To learn more about pediatric emergency services at Community Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, call 1-888-SBHS-123. To learn more about Reye’s syndrome, visit www.reyessyndrome.org.
Contact: Kathleen Horan
Public Relations and Marketing
(732) 557-3909
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