(Ped Infect Dis J 1995
jul;14(7):
588-94)again why? We all know that NSAIDS
like
tylenol and iboprofen are implicated.
Another
one (Infect Med 16 (5):307, 1999 noted severe
Group
A beta-hemolytic strap in children who had had
antipyretic
medication.
MMWR,
May 15, 1998, Vol 47 No 18 listed chickenpox
cases
too.But these parents don't appear to have been
asked
about Nonsteroid anti-inflammatories, or -
tylenol.
Pediatrics
Vol 103, No 4, April 1999, pg 783+ again
noted
the association of ibuprofen with serious
complications
- and elsewhere in the same issue.
Acta
Paediatri Jpn 1994 Aug;36(4):375-8 shows that
administration
of any antipyretic drugs in children
with
infectious diseases worsens their illnesses.
Why?
Because it appears that anti-pyretics down-
regulate
the immune response. This is only natural,
since
the reason for a fever is to switch on certain
cytokines,
and push the immune system up from the
fourth
gear to the tenth (prely as an imagery picture,
here),
to help deal with the problem. There is very
clear
evidence that tylenol creates an ineffective
immune
system in some children, and as Ped Infect Dis
1996:15:
355-53 points out about the immune system in
general
- not in particular to Tylenot - "an
ineffective
immune response to certain organisms can
result
in life-threatening infection."
Better
yet, a Journal called Family Practice, Volume
13,
No 2, 1996 stated:
"Paracetamol
prescribing is reaching epidemic
proportions
and the potential dangers of hepatotoxicity
and
the inhibition of the immune response in children
are
discussed."
He
goes on to say:
"Despite
our lack of knowledge about its therapeutic
mechanism,
it has been claimed to be a safe frug,
especially
for children...there is mounting evidence
that
paracetamil is not the benign drug that it was
formally
thought to be... We would question the whole
rational
of prescribing the drug in near epidemic
proportions...there
is little concern about its use in
the
short term as an ANALGESIC, there is considerable
controversy
over its use as an
antipyretic...paracetamol
may decrease antibody
response
to infection and increase morbidity and
mortality
in severe infections....too many parents and
health
workers think that fever is bad and needs to be
suppressed
by paracetamio, when indeed, moderate fever
may
improve the immune response."
In
another earlier study in the Lancet March 9, 1991 pg
591
it was stated "Studies have clearly shown that
fever
helps laboratory animals to survive an infection
whereas
antipyresis increases mortality (death).
Moreover,
there is considerable in-vitro evidence that
a
variety of human immunological defences function
better
at febrile temperatures than at normal ones."
It
is a natural thing to say that if your child was
vaccinated
against chickenpox, they won't get it (....?
maybe)
so you then wouldn't have to worry about the use
of
tylenol.
tylenol
should never be used in any
case
of infectious disease, for several reasons -
first,
it suppresses the immune system. Second it
makes
most children sleepy. Third - the combination of
those
two factors can mask critical symptoms which
would
alert a parent to a problem, so that as in the
case
of many if not most of the recent chickenpox
cases
- by the time they get to hospital, the situation
is
very severe indeed.
Do
you think then, in the light of the literature, all
parents
should be warned that while they can use
Tylenol,
or paracetamol as as ANALGESIC - or pain
relief,
that they should never use it for infectious
diseases?