Safety netting versus overtreatment in paediatrics: viral infection or incomplete Kawasaki disease?

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common systemic vasculitis of childhood. The following presentation of a 4-year-old Irish boy referred to a secondary care paediatric service from the community with prolonged fever, oral mucous membrane changes and painless blistering lesions of the hands and feet in the presence of elevated inflammatory markers serves as an opportunity to discuss the diagnostic criteria and treatment for KD and incomplete KD, an often missed diagnosis with significant paediatric morbidity outside an academic paediatric centre.

Smokers still underestimate the risks posed by secondhand smoke: a repeated cross-sectional study.

Background: Little is known about risk perception of secondhand smoke (SHS) and its changes over time. The aim of the study was to examine the role of smoking status and demographics on perceiving a range of health risks of SHS exposure and their trends over time among a representative sample of the Irish general population.

Methods: This study included 2 repeated cross-sectional samples of Irish adults in 1999 (n = 1,240) and 2006 (n = 1,000), in addition to a representative sample of General Practitioners (2006: n = 248), sampled as a health care professional's view on SHS risk.