The Pediatric infectious disease journal
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Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. · Apr 2004
ReviewUnderstanding vaccine safety information from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is administered by the Food and Drug Administration and CDC and is a key component of postlicensure vaccine safety surveillance. Its primary function is to detect early warning signals and generate hypotheses about possible new vaccine adverse events or changes in frequency of known ones. VAERS is a passive surveillance system that relies on physicians and others to voluntarily submit reports of illness after vaccination. ⋯ Signals detected in VAERS should be subjected to further clinical and descriptive epidemiologic analysis. Confirmation in a controlled study is usually required. An understanding of the system's defined objectives and inherent drawbacks is vital to the effective use of VAERS data in vaccine safety investigations.
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Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. · Apr 2004
Review Comparative StudyUse of corticosteroids in bacterial meningitis.
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We describe a previously healthy 11-year-old girl with acute neuroborreliosis, who presented with left sixth cranial nerve palsy, elevated intracranial pressure, markedly elevated cerebrospinal fluid leukocyte count and protein concentration and severe hypoglycorrhachia. These laboratory findings are atypical for neuroborreliosis.