New Products

NEW PRODUCTS

Help preventing parasite infestation from pets

Bayer Animal Health offers a new program for pediatricians to help them alert families to the dangers of human infection by parasitic zoonoses—including roundworms, tapeworms, and hookworms—that can be transmitted by pets and other domestic animals. Participating pediatricians will receive a free kit that includes:

• a wall poster

• take-home tips on prevention

• educational brochures describing strategic deworming of pets and common intestinal worms found in pets and that make their way to human hosts

• a video about zoonoses.

Bayer recommends that pediatricians add a question about pet ownership to patient history sheets as a reminder to raise the matter of zoonotic parasites, and that they know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists recommend strategic deworming of pets at regular intervals to prevent transmission of disease from parasites and their eggs. For information, contact Bayer Veterinary Services at 800-422-9874. To order educational materials, call 800-633-3796, option #4.

Proton pump inhibitor comes of age for children

The FDA has approved a pediatric indication for lansoprazole (Prevacid) for short-term treatment of symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and erosive esophagitis in children 1 to 11 years of age. To improve adherence among young patients, Abbott Laboratories will make the drug available in a strawberry-flavored oral suspension in addition to capsules and granules. For information, visit http://www.prevacid.com .

Making children aware of the year-round sun damage threat

The Fall/Winter 2002/2003 issue of FLASH! Hot News about You and the Sun is a newsletter that focuses on the need for sun protection all year long. Illustrations, games, puzzles, and celebrity interviews in the newsletter are all meant to teach children how to prevent skin cancer. Call the Skin Cancer Foundation at 212-725-5176 or e-mail to info@skincancer.org for information.

Blood glucose readings and trends—at a glance

The GlucoWatch G2 Biographer from Cygnus, which takes blood glucose readings continuously and noninvasively for as long as 13 hours, has earned FDA approval for use by children and adolescents 7 to 17 years old. The Biographer comprises two parts—a watch-like device worn on the wrist and a disposable component behind it that performs the monitoring.

The Biographer is intended for use as an adjunct to traditional regular fingerstick testing methods, but it does differ from other blood glucose monitoring systems in that it measures and displays glucose levels automatically, at approximate 10-minute intervals. It takes readings from the surface of the skin, not the blood, and builds a record of stored glucose values to be reviewed or uploaded into a software program that tracks trends. In addition, personal glucose-alert levels can be set so that an alarm sounds when a reading is too high or low, or if readings fall rapidly. For information, call 866-GLWATCH or visit http://www.glucowatch.com .

Molly Frederick

Medicine delivered by pacifier

The Kidz-Med Medicine Dispenser is a pacifier that becomes a drug delivery device when liquid medications are added to the reservoir. Then, once a baby is calmly sucking, the plunger can be gently depressed, if necessary, to ensure the medicine (as much as 5 mL, or 1 tsp) is ingested. After dispensing is complete, the plunger locks.

Cleared to class-1 FDA biocompatibility standards, Kidz-Med has a polypropylene mouth shield and silicone nipple. All parts are designed to be safely secured. The device can be opened and sterilized with any baby-product sterilizing solution. For information, call Ulster Scientific, toll free, at 877-206-3225.

 

New Products. Contemporary Pediatrics 2002;11:128.