The Associated Press is reporting that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is estimating that each year cough and cold medicines send about 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms.

Of these 7,000 cases, about two-thirds of the cases were children who took the medicines unsupervised. Of the remaining 2,600 cases, about 1,600 were were children under the age of 2 years old who were given over-the-counter cough and cold medicines that the FDA considers to be too dangerous for such young children.

However, about one-quarter involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and an allergic reaction or some other problem developed, the study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

CDC researchers gathered case reports of children 11 and under who had taken cough and cold medications and wound up in 63 hospitals studied in 2004 and 2005. They used that number to come up with the national estimate.

"The main message is no medication left in the hands of a 3-year-old is safe," said the CDC's Dr. Melissa Schaefer.

Autism was first described in the 1940s, but the condition was poorly understood and little known until the 1990s. At first, autistic children were thought to suffer from schizophrenia or emotional trauma. Then, aloof and unloving "refrigerator mothers" were blamed for their children's odd behavior.

Now considered a spectrum disorder, autism ranges from its "classic" state to Asperger's Syndrome, characterized by social and communication difficulties but average to superior intelligence. Children with the disorder may exhibit repetitive behaviors as well, such as hand-flapping, head-banging or rocking back and forth. Those with classic autism generally don't speak, seem unaware of the outside world and often require institutionalization.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism rates have climbed from about one in 2,500 children in the 1980s to between one and four in 500 today, but it's unclear whether the number of cases is rising or greater public awareness and broader diagnostic criteria have brought more cases to light.

Autism: Why is it on the Rise?

by Ela Schwartz in the Long Island Press. Used by permission.

Luke Gilmore has come a long way in the past few years. The 5-year-old boy used to avoid eye contact and would spend his time staring out the window or racing distractedly around the house. Now he plays with other children and can even identify about 40 words by pointing them out to his teachers. But Luke's father, John Gilmore of Long Beach, says his son hasn't spoken a word since he was about a year old.

Luke has been diagnosed with autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder whose causes remain unknown.

Gilmore believes Luke's autism was caused by mercury poisoning via three vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in childhood vaccines since the 1930s. In 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service recommended that manufacturers reduce thimerosal content from about 25 micrograms per shot to trace amounts, although older vaccines may still be on the market. But the government has not officially identified mercury as a cause of autism. Indeed, many medical professionals and even other parents like the Gilmores say the correlation isn't clear.

Just as 2006 and 2007 saw an increase options for delivery systems of medications for ADHD, the next generation of medications for ADHD may be just around the corner in 2008 and 2009. These NextGen medications are known as ProDrugs, and they have the potential to change the way medications are prescribed to individuals with ADHD.

Since there has been a recent explosion of new ADHD drugs such as Strattera, or new delivery systems such as Daytrana, or "old drugs in new dresses" such as Concerta, why in the world is it necessary to develop any more new drugs for ADHD? Why should we care?

To the extent that new drugs are just "old drugs in new dresses" for a pharmaceutical company to make money, we don't care. But to the extent that this NextGen of ProDrugs might actually make a difference in people's lives, we are very interested in learning more.

And given that between 30% and 40% of patients cannot tolerate the side-effects of current stimulant medications, and given that today's ADHD medications range from about 60% effective (Strattera) to 80% effective (Ritalin), there is a lot of room for improvement in this field. This is why we like Attend, which is not a drug, but is about 70% effective and with few or no side-effects. It is just not well known.