Health

(NEW YORK) — After more than a year, children are emerging from the COVID-19 quarantine.

Family gatherings are back, and so are germs and other viruses. For young children, getting sick is a rite of passage that’s often short-lived and helps build up future immunities.

What is uncommon now is the time of year viruses common in children are finding a foothold.

In some parts of the country, hospitals have been reporting an unseasonable rise in viral infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For children younger than age 2, the most frequent is a lung infection causing temporary inflammation in the airways, called bronchiolitis, which is most often caused by respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Cases among kids typically crop up in the fall and winter, when school is back in session and germs are easily shared, but experts said they’re seeing these cases now.

“The number of RSV cases is about the same,” Dr. Allison Bartlett, pediatric infectious disease doctor at the University of Chicago, told ABC News. “It’s the season that’s unusual.”

This period of time in summer is now being called “RSV season” because more than 1 out of 10 tests are positive for the virus, according to Bartlett.

Here’s what parents should know:

How to prevent RSV

For the general population, experts said kids can keep safe from RSV with the same health measures we’ve all been doing for more than a year during the COVID-19 pandemic: Masking, social distancing and following good hygiene.

Teaching kids to practice “respiratory etiquette” and handwashing can help, along with keeping infants away from others who may have a respiratory infection already, according to Bartlett.

“Managing the COVID pandemic has reinforced for everyone the impact that masking, social distancing, school closure and staying home when you’re sick can have,” she said. “All of the actions we took to stop the spread of COVID effectively prevented RSV as well. Now that we have relaxed some of these strategies, RSV is back.”

Symptoms to watch for

Children with RSV may start to wheeze, develop a cough or congestion or spike a fever, the body’s natural response to fighting off a virus.

Parents may also notice their child has less of an appetite than usual, that they’re more tired and more irritable.

As parents and guardians monitor kids’ symptoms that can span several days, experts caution not to be alarmed if a child seems to worsen, even after starting to see mild improvements.

“Days four to seven of illness is really when the infection declares itself,” said Dr. Alisa McQueen, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the University of Chicago. “It’s common for many of the symptoms to almost resolve, and then suddenly come back.”

What to do if your child is sick

Most cases of bronchiolitis are very mild and can be managed at home with over-the-counter therapies and a little “TLC.”

Experts point out if a child is sick, but not in crisis, keeping them home, rather than seeking emergency medical care, may actually be safer and healthier for them and others. RSV is an extremely contagious virus that, after spreading by saliva and mucous droplets, can linger on surfaces far longer than many other viruses.

A several hours’ wait in the emergency department could expose a child to other, even more harmful pathogens, especially if their immune system is already weakened.

Many fevers will resolve without medication, but fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help.

If a child is having trouble blowing their nose and needs relief, cool mist humidifiers, manual suctioning devices, or thinning out the mucous with nasal saline drops will help o help drain easily from the nose, according to Dr. Tyree Winters, a New Jersey-based pediatrician.

But for a small number of infants and young children, RSV can be dangerous.

Approximately 1% to 2% of children who get RSV end up hospitalized. The virus accounts for around 58,000 hospitalizations each year for children under the age of 5 in the United States, according to the CDC.

If a child struggles with breathing beyond the point of congestion — episodes where they stop breathing, have faster breathing, use extra muscles to breath or start turning blue around the mouth — that’s a sign to seek medical attention.

The extra energy the body is using to fight the infection can often makes children sleepier and less active, but when a child is too tired to even drink, has stopped making diapers or cries without making any tears, these are all early signs of dehydration and might mean a child is too sick to fight this infection alone.

Gauging what level medical attention a child needs can be tricky, especially for an anxious parent, so when in doubt, seek help, experts say.

“If something doesn’t seem right, come in the emergency department and let us take a look,” said McQueen. “We’re here 24 hours a day for exactly this reason.”

In most cases, if a child is admitted to the hospital, the stay will only last a few days. These children are often placed on supplemental oxygen to make sure they are getting enough.

If a child has not been eating for several days already, the hospital can also help by giving them IV fluids until the child feels well enough to start eating and drinking normally again.

For infants at greater risk of severe illness, like those who were born premature, or those with chronic lung or congenital heart disease, a monthly antibody injection is available.

Chidimma J. Acholonu, M.D., MPH, a pediatric resident physician at University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(WASHINGTON) — Americans who are fully vaccinated don’t need another shot, top U.S. health officials said late Monday following a private meeting with top executives at Pfizer, which says it had new data showing a third vaccine dose could boost the body’s antibody response five- to ten-fold.

The statements appear to close the door – at least for now – on the suggestion that people who were among the first to be vaccinated more than six months ago would once again need to line up for a third shot. One factor that could change that calculus is the emergence of new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.

“At this time, fully vaccinated Americans do not need a booster shot,” the Department of Health and Human Sciences said in a statement following the meeting with Pfizer.

Pfizer called its meeting with government health officials “productive” and said it would publish more “definitive data” in a peer-reviewed journal soon.

“Both Pfizer and the U.S. government share a sense of urgency in staying ahead of the virus that causes COVID-19, and we also agree that the scientific data will dictate next steps in the rigorous regulatory process that we always follow,” the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

The question of whether and when Americans might need a third shot has been an open question for months, as health experts noted that a person’s detectible antibodies wane over time and as new variants of the virus have emerged. But there are other parts of a person’s immune system, including T-cells, that doctors believe also play a major role in helping prevent hospitalization or death.

The first vaccine shots given in the U.S. were Pfizer doses to health care workers on Dec. 14 – some seven months ago.

But since then, ample real-world evidence has surfaced that vaccinated individuals are strongly protected from the virus and its currently known variants. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99.5 percent of deaths from COVID-19 are among unvaccinated patients.

“Nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky last week.

On July 8, Pfizer announced it had “encouraging data” on the prospects of a third dose. The Pfizer vaccine is typically given in two doses, three weeks apart.

“Initial data from the study demonstrate that a booster dose given after 6 months of the second dose has a consistent tolerability profile while eliciting high neutralization titers, 5-10 times higher than after two primary doses” against variants of the virus, the company stated in an announcement.

“While protection against severe disease remained high across the full 6 months, the observed decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time and the continued emergence of variants are key factors driving our belief that a booster dose will likely be necessary to maintain highest levels of protection,” Pfizer said in its earlier statement.

After meeting with Pfizer officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Monday night that it’s possible the government will recommend boosters eventually, possibly starting with older Americans or people with underlying medical conditions.

But Fauci said he doesn’t think boosters are needed just yet.

“We heard their data. We made it very clear their data is a part of a much larger puzzle, and we will be gathering data as the weeks go by,” Fauci said.

Fauci also noted that if a decision on boosters is made, “it will be based on a comprehensive study, not on the announcement of a pharmaceutical company.”

Fauci’s statement was a nod to the public confusion about the effectiveness of the vaccine after Pfizer announced it would recommend boosters.

“I don’t mean that in a derogatory way because it was a very good meeting, very informative. We exchanged information, and I think it’s an important step in the right direction,” he added.

In attendance were Drs. Fauci and Walensky, as well as acting FDA Administrator Janet Woodcock; Peter Marks, who has been leading FDA regulatory efforts on the vaccine; Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health; Biden COVID adviser David Kessler; and Rachel Levine, assistance secretary for Health at HHS.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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(DAYTON, Ohio) — A COVID-19 outbreak has been reported among attendees of a church retreat, officials announced.

At least 30 positive cases have been identified so far in people who took part in the weeklong event, health officials confirmed.

Dayton and Montgomery County Public Health said more than 800 people attended the Baptist Church retreat at Camp Chautauqua in Miamisburg, Ohio, from June 27 to July 3. Visitors came to the event from churches across Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana.

Dr. Michael Dohn, medical director for Dayton & Montgomery County Public Health, spoke out about his concern, stating: “Unvaccinated people, including children under 12 years of age, are up to 100 times more likely to get sick after exposure to COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated individuals.”

Dohn added: “the outbreak demonstrates that the COVID-19 virus is still circulating and continues to make people sick.”

The positive cases were so far identified in attendees from Ohio and Kentucky.

One person tested positive for COVID-19 during the final days of the retreat and was “immediately quarantined off campus,” Jason Harmeyer, President of the Chautauqua Camp and Conference Center said in a statement. Event organizers then proceeded to monitor individuals associated with that group for symptoms and conducted regular temperature checks.

Health officials investigating the outbreak said camp and event organizers had failed to provide contact information for attendees after the initial cases were recognized, so authorities were asking anyone who may have attended the retreat to contact them or their local health department.

The camp organizer said it was in regular contact with group leaders to take necessary precautions.

It is unknown how many attendees had received COVID-19 vaccinations.

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(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — California issued a new rule on Monday banning unmasked students from school campuses but then rescinded it just hours later.

The California Department of Health published its COVID-19 public health guidance for K-12 schools in the Golden State for the 2021-2022 school year, including a new mandate that said students “are required” to wear face masks indoors, unless they are exempt due to a medical condition, and “schools must exclude students from campus” if they refuse to do so. The guidance, which was initially published on Monday afternoon and took immediate effect, noted that schools “should offer alternative educational opportunities for students who are excluded from campus because they will not wear a face covering.”

But later, officials backtracked on that rule. The California Department of Health took to Twitter on Monday evening to signal a change of direction, saying, “California’s school guidance will be clarified regarding masking enforcement, recognizing local schools’ experience in keeping students and educators safe while ensuring schools fully reopen for in-person instruction.”

The guidance was ultimately revised, dropping the language about excluding unmasked students from classrooms statewide and instead allowing schools to decide how to deal with the issue.

“Consistent with guidance from the 2020-21 school year, schools must develop and implement local protocols to enforce the mask requirements,” the guidance now states. “Additionally, schools should offer alternative educational opportunities for students who are excluded from campus because they will not wear a face covering.”

The California Department of Health says the guidelines are “effective immediately and will be reviewed regularly.” The department further noted that it is operating within the updated recommendations released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to advise schools to promote COVID-19 vaccination and implement indoor mask requirements and physical distancing for those who are not fully vaccinated. But the CDC’s guidelines also state that schools “should not exclude students from in-person learning to keep a minimum distance requirement.”

“Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority,” the CDC says.

Nevertheless, California’s COVID-19 measures are among the strictest of any U.S. state. Education and health officials alike are concerned about the so-called delta variant, a highly contagious version of the novel coronavirus, with infections on the rise as the new academic year draws closer.

As of July 7, there were 1,085 confirmed cases of the delta variant in California — a 71% rise from the previous week. Meanwhile, among the COVID-19 tests statewide that are genomically sequenced, the delta variant accounted for 43% on June 21 compared with just 5.8% on May 21, according to data from the California Department of Health.

Overall, California has reported more than 3.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 63,000 deaths from the disease. More than 42.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across to the state, which is home to some 39.5 million people, according to data from the California Department of Health.

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(NEW YORK) — While all adults in the United States are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, parents with young children find themselves in an uncomfortable limbo state. Fully vaccinated parents are protected against the virus, but their kids under 12 aren’t even eligible for a shot.

While children are less likely to have serious infection than in adults, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting that “most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all,” in rare instances, children have developed severe COVID-19 cases that led to hospitalization or death.

As of early June, 4,000 children nationwide had developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19. There’s also an element of uncertainty associated with any COVID-19 infection, since the long-term health consequences of having COVID-19 are not yet known.

Navigating kids and COVID is complicated. Come fall, vaccines are likely to be approved for children younger than 12, but until then, some parents are wondering how to keep their kids safe as guidelines about masks and social distancing loosen.

ABC News spoke with Dr. Judith Flores, a pediatrician and former chief of ambulatory care at NYC Health + Hospitals, who has been in practice for more than 30 years, about how parents can lower their kids’ COVID risk.

Q: My kid is going back to school in person this year. What do I need to know?

You should start planning and ask questions, Flores says.

“I would also inquire who is vaccinated at school and keep an eye on what their environmental controls are,” Flores said.

According to the CDC’s guidelines for K-12 schools, “consistent and correct use of face masks reduces the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and, with some exceptions, is recommended for use indoors among people aged 2 and older who are not fully vaccinated.” The CDC also recommends handwashing, improving ventilation, staying home if sick, social distancing and testing in schools to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.

Depending on school guidance and your risk tolerance as a parent, send your child to school with a mask. Flores noted that if she had a small child, she would have them wear a mask at school, especially in the beginning, while you determine whether or not the school is doing a good job of keeping the environment safe.

But ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind that schools have been reasonably safe settings so far.

“It’s been well documented that kids get sicker when they’re home with family,” Flores said.

Despite that reality, some parents are rightfully nervous. Flores works with families that were hit hard by COVID-19’s initial wave in New York City. Some parents and children are anxious about returning in person, she explained, adding that behavioral and mental health support are critical, especially for kids who lost family members during the pandemic.

“It’s not just, ‘let’s make sure we have your supply list for the teacher this year,'” she said. “You really have to prepare your children mentally — and yourself,” she said.

Q: Is there anything I can do to lower my child’s COVID risk until they’re eligible for a vaccine?

“The best way to take care of your child is for you, your family and your community to be vaccinated,” Flores stressed. “Your kid’s risk goes up depending on the community you live in or go to school in. If your community has a low vaccination rate and high infection rate, there’s a greater risk your child will get sick.”

“If I were in Mississippi, I’d be very concerned, because the vaccination rate is low. So there, I’d keep a mask on my child and keep social distancing. If I lived in Massachusetts, I might breathe a little easier,” she said.

Mississippi’s vaccination rate trails the national average. As of Monday, 37% of residents had received at least one dose, and 33% were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, compared with 71% of people in Massachusetts who’ve gotten at least one shot and 63% who are fully vaccinated.

Your child doesn’t need to wear a mask in most outdoor settings because the risk of transmission is low, Flores noted, but it’s a good idea to have them wear one in indoor public spaces, especially if ventilation is poor or if the space is crowded.

The same fundamental practices the CDC recommends for schools, like handwashing and social distancing, are useful for reducing kids’ risk in non-school settings. You can also model wearing a mask for your child, even if you’re vaccinated and don’t technically need one yourself. If you’re not going to wear a mask around your child, having a conversation as a family explaining why masks are important is key, Flores suggested.

“This is an added protection for you. Just like I would put a seatbelt on you, I would put a mask on you for this time,” she said. “Kids understand seatbelts.”

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(NEW YORK) — Amanda Hunt, a Florida native, said she grew up spending summer days at the beach as a child and using tanning beds as a young adult.

Now 39 years old, Hunt, of Titusville, Florida, is battling stage 4 metastatic melanoma and is speaking out about her experience in hopes of saving other lives.

“I want people to know the things that I didn’t know,” Hunt told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I can say for myself that having to fight for your life due to something so superficial as being tan, that’s a really tough pill to swallow at the end of the day.”

Hunt’s life changed last June when she discovered a lump in her breast. A biopsy of the lump came back as malignant melanoma. Hunt then learned the cancer had spread throughout her body, including her lungs.

“One day you wake up and your life is one way and the next day you wake up and your life is totally different,” she said. “I remember being shocked and confused and I got angry and thought, ‘How did my body fail me?'”

Hunt said she was even more shocked by her diagnosis because she had been going to annual skin checks since 2011, when she was successfully treated for basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer.

After undergoing treatment for her first skin cancer diagnosis, Hunt said she stopped using tanning beds but did not change her daily sun protection routine dramatically, knowing that she was being checked annually by her dermatologist.

“I got my annual skin checks so that was always in the back of my mind like a crutch,” she said. “But I learned in all of this that there is an occurrence where you do not have melanoma appear on the skin. I never knew that was even possible.”

Hunt’s diagnosis made her one of the approximately 3% of cases where the melanoma has already spread to a subcutaneous site when it is discovered, according to her doctor, Zeynep Eroglu, a medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

Because the spread of melanoma was already underway in Hunt’s body, she began treatment less than one month after being diagnosed. Since July 2020, Hunt has made the four-hour roundtrip drive from Titusville to Tampa to undergo immunotherapy treatments at Moffitt.

The treatments have been working but Hunt has suffered severe side effects from the immunotherapy, including being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes this March.

“It happens to less than 1% of [immunotherapy] patients,” she said of the diabetes diagnosis. “Everything in my case is rare and the exception.”

Hunt, an attorney, lost her job due to layoffs during the pandemic just two days before her diagnosis. Not long after, she said she started a blog, Love and Sunblock, about her battle with melanoma to educate and provide hope to others.

“When I was first diagnosed, I started searching the internet for information and all I could find were just grave statistics,” said Hunt, whose family and friends started a GoFundMe to help cover her medical expenses. “I started blogging about my journey because I wanted to be that person for someone else in the future, that person that I was desperately trying to find.”

Hunt said her diagnosis has made her reflect on the time she spent in the sun as a child, spending hours at the beach without reapplying sunscreen and spending hours in tanning beds to try to overcome her naturally pale skin.

“I even remember missing school because of sunburns,” she said. “I was on my way to becoming a melanoma statistic and had no idea.”

Now, Hunt said she covers herself from head to toe to even walk to the mailbox and is making sure her 14-year-old daughter learns important lessons about incorporating sun protection into her daily skin care routine.

“It’s almost always preventable,” Hunt said of skin cancer. “Sun protection has got to become a habit and it’s got to start with your kids.”

What to know about melanoma and sun protection

Melanoma is a rare form of skin cancer in which cancer cells form in melanocytes, the cells that color the skin, according to the National Cancer Institute.

It can occur anywhere on the body, but in women is found most often on the arms and legs, according to NCI.

The main risk factors for melanoma include exposure to ultraviolet rays, which are found in tanning beds and sun lamps, a family history of melanoma, a personal history of melanoma or other skin cancers, a weakened immune system, moles and a complexion of fair skin, freckling and light hair, according to the American Cancer Society .

In the United States, the risk for melanoma varies by age. Before age 50, the risk for melanoma is higher for women; after age 50 the risk is higher in men, according to ACS.

In order to prevent the occurrence of melanoma, Hunt’s doctor, Eroglu, shared four tips:

1. Go to the dermatologist early and often: “With melanoma, every millimeter matters,” said Eroglu. “Time is really of the essence. If there is any concern, go and have it checked out.”

Eroglu also stressed persistence in seeking testing and a diagnosis if something on your skin continues to look abnormal to you.

2. Always wear sunscreen and reapply it often: Eroglu recommends using a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher and reapplying it often, especially when exposed to water.

A broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects you from UVA rays, which can prematurely age your skin, and UVB rays, which can burn your skin, is also recommended.

It matters less what type of sunscreen you use — spray or lotion or cream — and more that you choose a type of sunscreen you will use consistently and frequently, according to Eroglu.

“Even one bad sunburn from when you were a child can years later, decades later, develop into skin cancer,” she said.

3. Avoid the sun when it is at its strongest: The sun’s rays are at their peak from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. so it is best to avoid being exposed to the sun at that time, according to Eroglu.

People should also be extra vigilant with sun protection when near water, sand and snow because the sun’s rays are strengthened by the reflection off those surfaces.

People should also avoid using tanning beds, according to Eroglu, because of the intensity of their ultraviolet radiation.

4. Do regular skin checks on yourself: People should regularly lookout for new spots or a spot that is changing in size, shape or color on their skin, according to Eroglu.

The ABCDE rule is a guide people can follow to see if any spots have features that need to be flagged to a doctor.

Here is the rule, as described by the American Cancer Society.

A is for Asymmetry: One half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
B is for Border: The edges are irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
C is for Color: The color is not the same all over and may include different shades of brown or black, or sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue.
D is for Diameter: The spot is larger than 6 millimeters across (about 1/4 inch — the size of a pencil eraser), although melanomas can sometimes be smaller than this.
E is for Evolving: The mole is changing in size, shape, or color.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned of an increased risk of Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological disorder, following the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after 100 preliminary cases of the syndrome were reported among the 12.5M doses administered.

The agency noted that 95 of the cases were serious and required hospitalization. There was one death.

While the FDA said it’s updating vaccination materials for health care providers and patients to note an “association” between the vaccine and a risk of GBS, the agency said the data are “insufficient to establish a causal relationship.” And, the agency added, it still recommends the vaccine to prevent the serious health risks posed by COVID-19.

“Importantly, the FDA has evaluated the available information for the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and continues to find the known and potential benefits clearly outweigh the known and potential risks,” the FDA stated.

Johnson and Johnson said it has discussed the reports with federal regulators at the Food and Drug Administration.

“The chance of having this occur is very low, and the rate of reported cases exceeds the background rate by a small degree,” the company said in a statement released Monday.

Similar issues have not been reported tied to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare disorder that occurs when a person’s immune system damages nerve cells and causes muscle weakness or paralysis.

Most people recover fully although some will report long-term nerve damage.

According to the CDC, the majority of people who develop GBS report the symptoms after having a respiratory illness, including the flu or getting sick with diarrhea. One common cause is a bacteria tied to eating uncooked poultry.

It’s also linked to vaccination, though rare, and is why the CDC monitors reports of GBS each flu season.

The CDC estimates there is one to two additional GBS cases per million doses of flu vaccine administered.

On the most recent cases tied to the J&J vaccine, the CDC said older men were mostly impacted.

“These cases have largely been reported about two weeks after vaccination and mostly in males, many aged 50 years and older,” the CDC said in a statement.

According to the FDA, patients should seek medical attention if they experience a weakness or tingling sensations, especially in the legs or arms, and that might worsen or spread to other parts of the body. Other symptoms might include difficulty walking or making facial movements; double vision or inability to move eyes; or difficulty with bladder control or bowel function.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — With the pandemic causing uncertainty, isolation and disruptions in routine, research has continued to show increases in far-reaching physical and mental health problems — and now, dentists are noting that teeth grinding and jaw clenching, known as bruxism, also seem to be on the rise.

“Since the pandemic, patients have been coming to me with new complaints of jaw pain, tooth pain, broken or chipped teeth or just because their partners are telling them they’re grinding — in numbers that I’ve never seen before,” Dr. Saul Pressner, a family dentist in New York City, said.

Clenching and grinding is a common problem, but Pressner said he has even treated adults whose teeth clenching issues are brand new.

“I’m really seeing both — people who were pre-disposed to clenching and grinding, who already had appliances made for them, and some who had no evidence to show they were ever clenching or grinding before,” Pressner said.

While the causes of bruxism are largely unknown, some experts believe this behavior is related to sleep patterns and processes within the central nervous system. There are a few risk factors that are associated with increased rates of bruxism, including anxiety, highly stressful life circumstances and heavy alcohol use — all things that have increased across the population this year.

“Patients admit to being more tense since the start of the pandemic,” said Dr. Yanell Innabi-Danial of River Town Dental in Dobbs Ferry, New York. “They exhibit tenderness radiating to head and neck muscles, causing headaches.”

The stress isn’t only affecting people while they sleep. It can persist into daytime grinding and clenching as well.

Patients are also clenching their jaws “while working, driving, and doing other activities during the day,” Innabi-Danial said, who noted that clenching and grinding can cause wear on the chewing surfaces of the teeth, which can lead to cavities and gum disease.

And bruxism isn’t just affecting adults. Children can experience it, too.

Dr. Kevin Simon, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard, said he has seen an increase in patients with anxiety or other mental health-related disorders who make note of physical complaints such as headaches and jaw pain.

“Physical complaints are associated in no small part to the tension and stress they are carrying around in the form of clenching and grinding. More headaches, more tension in the jaw and neck,” Simon said. “Treating the underpinning mental health condition becomes essential to treating those symptoms.”

Ultimately, dentists and mental health professionals agree that tackling this issue will involve addressing stress and anxiety along with preventive dental care to ensure that complications don’t arise in the future.

“Night guards do not stop patients from clenching and grinding, but it does protect the teeth and joint while doing so,” Innabi-Danial said.

Mouth guards, however, can be cost-prohibitive, with few insurances covering the expense, and dentists also caution that over-the-counter guards may not adequately protect a patient’s teeth. Innabi-Danial said that if night guards, behavioral intervention, jaw and tongue exercises and a diet consisting of softer foods do not help, then patients can consider having Botox injected in their jaw muscle.

“Mouth guards are just one piece of it,” Pressner added. “I always recommend meditation, yoga, trying to separate their workspace from relaxation space, exercise, all those things for my patients as soon as I notice signs of teeth grinding. This can have so many benefits to their dental and jaw health down the line.”

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(NEW YORK) — The American Academy of Pediatrics released a new report that identified top drowning risks for children and recommendations to help prevent tragedy.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in the U.S. for children ages 1 to 4 and the third-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in children and teens 5 to 19, according to the AAP.

The latest research from the AAP’s Prevention of Drowning report found that male toddlers and teenage boys are at the highest risk of drowning.

The report also emphasized that no single intervention, such as swim lessons or lifeguards, is sufficient and therefore recommended “multiple layers of protection to prevent drowning.”

AAP’s key ways to prevent children from drowning:

– Close, constant, attentive and capable adult supervision when children are in and around water as well as life jacket use among children and adults.

– To prevent unsupervised access, four-sided pool fencing at least 4-feet tall with self-closing and self-latching gates that completely isolates the pool from the house and yard.

– In the home, be aware that infant bath seats can tip over, and children can slip out of them and drown in even a few inches of water in a bathtub. Infants should never be left alone in a tub, even for a minute.

– Parents and caregivers should prevent unsupervised access to the swimming pool, open water or a bathtub.

– To prevent drowning in toilets, young children should not be left alone in the bathroom, and toilet locks may be helpful.

– Water should be emptied from containers, such as pails and buckets, immediately after use.

Check out more information from the full report.

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(NEW YORK) — Trista Hamsmith’s 18-month-old daughter, Reese, died in December, two months after Hamsmith discovered her daughter had swallowed a button battery, the small, round batteries found in many home devices and toys.

Now Hamsmith, of Lubbock, Texas, is on a mission to make sure no other parent has to suffer the pain and loss her family has experienced.

“When we thought everything was going to be fine, I just had this vision of advocating for the safety and awareness of button batteries with Reese by my side,” Hamsmith told Good Morning America. “Her being gone did not change my desire to want to protect other children and get this information out there.”

“Every day we wait, another kid is going to ingest a battery,” she said. “Had somebody [spoken out] before, our lives would look very different.”‘

Reese was 16 months old this past October when she developed cold-like symptoms, including a very stuffy nose, according to Hamsmith, who also has a 9-year-old daughter.

Hamsmith and her husband, Chris, took their daughter to see the pediatrician, who suspected Reese had croup, an infection of the upper airways, and prescribed steroids, according to Hamsmith.

Shortly after, the family discovered a button battery was missing from a remote control in their home. After looking online and discovering that symptoms of button battery ingestion — including coughing, wheezing and chest discomfort — matched those of Reese, Hamsmith and her husband rushed Reese to the emergency room.

There, an X-ray confirmed that a battery was lodged near the top of Reese’s esophagus. The toddler underwent emergency surgery to remove the battery, and after a few days she was sent home from the hospital with instructions to stay on a liquid diet.

Hamsmith soon learned what she now wants other parents to know: Button batteries can continue to cause damage by burning tissue, even after they are removed.

When Reese did not improve, a CT scan confirmed she had a fistula through her esophagus and trachea that was created by the inflammation, according to Hamsmith.

Reese underwent another surgery to implant a gastronomy tube so she could receive nutrition, and she was placed on a ventilator.

“She came back sedated and on a ventilator, and that was the last time I saw my child like herself,” Hamsmith said.

“She went back for surgery, and that was the last time she was not on sedation for the rest of her life,” Hamsmith said, adding, “I wasn’t able to hold her, because her airway was so small, every single move was critical.”

Reese spent the next six weeks hospitalized and undergoing various surgeries and attempts to try to save her life. She ultimately died Dec. 17, 2020, with her mom by her side.

“I finally got to rock her in a rocking chair for a while,” said Hamsmith, who said she found inspiration to keep going and advocate for button battery awareness from a plaque in Reese’s hospital room.

“There was a plaque that read, ‘He has a plan, and I have a purpose,’ and I know that God has a plan, and Reese has a purpose,” she said. “It sits on my fireplace mantel now to remind me not to quit.”

In the seven months since Reese died, Hamsmith has created a nonprofit organization, Reese’s Purpose, to educate parents about button battery safety and to try to create change around how button batteries are protected in packaging and in the items in which they are found.

Hamsmith has testified before the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), created a national Button Battery Awareness Day (June 12) and is now calling on Congress to enact legislation that would create national standards for consumer products with button batteries. A Change.org petition launched by Reese’s Purpose calling for legislation has nearly 80,000 signatures.

“The main thing is that 10 years down the road, if I hear about a kid dying of a button battery ingestion, I want to know that I did everything I could without a shadow of a doubt to help prevent and help put the knowledge out,” Hamsmith said. “It’s a hidden danger.”

What parents need to know

Hamsmith calls button batteries a “hidden danger” because they are used many items, including remotes, hearing aids, thermometers, tealight candles, battery-powered jewelry, greeting cards, key fobs, kids’ toys and even toothbrushes.

“It literally takes one second [for button battery ingestion to happen],” she said. “You can set your kid down, turn around and pick up a piece of laundry, and it’s happened.”

More than 3,500 people swallow button batteries each year in the United States, according to the National Poison Control Center.

But the actual number of button battery ingestions each year is actually much larger because the incidents are vastly underreported, according to Dr. Kris Janata, professor in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Janata helped create the GIRC App, a global database by the Global Injury Research Collaborative for medical professionals to track the severity of injuries, including from button batteries.

Over the past year of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a 93% increase in emergency department visits for battery-related complaints in school-age children, according to Janata’s research.

“I do think there is a lack of awareness among parents that these are severe hazards,” he said. “We can’t fix the injuries that these batteries cause, so that’s what’s led us to how can we prevent these injuries in the first place.”

Here are three tips from Janata and Hamsmith to both prevent and treat button battery ingestion injuries.

1. Keep an inventory of button batteries in your home: Because the symptoms of button battery ingestion can mimic the symptoms of other illnesses in kids, as was the case with Reese, both Hamsmith and Janata say the most important thing for parents and caregivers is to always be aware of and know about the presence of all the button batteries in their home.

Hamsmith’s advice to caregivers is to keep products that contain button batteries not just out of reach but also out of sight of children, especially those ages 6 and under, who are most at risk for swallowing a foreign object.

Janata said to not only know where the button batteries are in your home, but to also to regularly check all electronic devices to make sure the battery compartment is secured.

2. Know the symptoms: Symptoms of swallowing a button battery may include fever, not wanting to eat or drink, irritability, wheezing, difficulty breathing, coughing, throat pain, choking, gagging, problems swallowing and vomiting, according to a button battery resource website created by Janata and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Children may also put a button battery in their nose or ear, which can also present dangers. Symptoms to look for include irritability, pain or swelling around the ears or nose, fever and fluid drainage or bleeding from the ears or nose, according to Janata.

Children who ingest button batteries may also present no symptoms at all, which is why parents and caregivers should know the whereabouts of button batteries in their home at all times, Janata said.

3. Act quickly: Serious esophageal injury can occur within two hours of a child ingesting a button battery, before symptoms even start, according to Janata.

“The clock is ticking from the moment the battery is lodged in the esophagus,” he said.

If a child ingests a button battery, immediately call for help, either through 911 or the National Battery Ingestion Hotline at 800-498-8666, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Parents and caregivers may also use honey to treat the child while waiting for medical help. Experts recommend giving 10 mL of honey every 10 minutes to children 12 months and older.

Janata stressed not to delay going to the emergency room and said seeking professional medical help should be the top priority.

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