What's Going Around 4/23/2008 Save Email Print
Posted: 10:50 AM Apr 23, 2008
Last Updated: 1:12 PM Apr 23, 2008
Reporter: Penny Moss
Email Address: penny.moss@wsaz.com

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Your child's sick -- then he gets better... then he's sick again!

It's a stomach virus that's going around in much of our area.

Dr. Gilbert Goliath in South Charleston says he's seen a lot of patients with norovirus in the last week or two. It causes vomiting and diarrhea -- and he says some kids will be sick, then get better, then show the symptoms again. But it's a virus that just has to run its course.

Now, Dr. Goliath says he's not seeing as much of another stomach virus: rotavirus. A vaccine's been available for it for the past few years, and he says he's not seeing the illness as much because of that vaccine.

Along with norovirus, Dr. Goliath is seeing a lot of kids with seasonal allergies, and also pink-eye -- a contagious eye infection that causes a thick goopy drainage from the eye. It's treated with prescription eye drops.

A new entry to our What's Going Around segment: The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department in Parkersburg.

Dick Wittberg says the news out of there is not what is going around -- but what is not. A 4-year old child recently contracted a blood infection caused by meningococcal bacteria -- which can also cause meningitis. But good news here: He says the child responded well to treatment, and about 20 people with close contact to her were treated with antibiotics as a preventive measure, with no further infections.

Doctors at Roane General Hospital Medical Clinic in Spencer are seeing a lot of upper respiratory tract infections, probably brought on by allergies.

They're also seeing kids with a stomach virus causing vomiting and diarrhea.

And in Portsmouth, Dr. Schoettle at Rebecca Schoettle Pediatrics is also seeing kids suffering from the effects of seasonal allergies: coughing, itchy mouth, nose, eyes, and throat, runny nose, and sneezing. Antihistamines can help with these symptoms. They're also seeing kids with a sore throat.

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