Plans for future influenza pandemics must raise awareness of Reye's syndrome

BMJ 1998;317:284 ( 25 July )

Letters

Plans for future influenza pandemics must raise awareness of Reye's syndrome

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EDITOR $---$ Walker and Christie report that the index patient in the outbreak of avian influenza in Hong Kong died of Reye's syndrome.¹Reye's syndrome was an important cause of death and severe neurologicalmorbidity in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s, particularlyduring influenza epidemics. Its incidence fell sharply after recognitionof its association with aspirin and the introduction of publiceducation and warning labelling on aspirin products.²

In the United Kingdom, surveillance of Reye's syndrome in children under 16 has been carried out by the British PaediatricSurveillance Unit of the Royal College of Paediatrics and ChildHealth since August 1981. A dramatic decline in reported casesand deaths has been observed since warning labelling was introducedfor aspirin in 1986.³ In the most recent complete surveillanceyear, to July 1997, the provisional total (seven) was the lowestever recorded.

Although Reye's syndrome is still being reported, the . . . [Full text of this article]