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Summary
Summary
"A fascinating history of a public health crisis. Compellingly written and insightful, Keep Out of Reach of Children traces the discovery of Reye's syndrome, research into its causes, industry's efforts to avoid warning labels on one suspected cause, aspirin, and the feared disease's sudden disappearance. Largent's empathy is with the myriad children and parents harmed by the disease, while he challenges the triumphalist view that labeling solved the crisis." -- ERIK M. CONWAY , coauthor of Merchants of Doubt
"Largent's engaging and honest account explores how medical mysteries are shaped by prevailing narratives about venal drug companies, heroic investigators, and Johnny-come-lately politicians." -- HELEN EPSTEIN , author of The Invisible Cure
"Fascinating. . . . Thought-provoking." -- Booklist
"Well-researched. . . . A revealing work." -- Kirkus Reviews
Reye's syndrome, identified in 1963, was a debilitating, rare condition that typically afflicted healthy children just emerging from the flu or other minor illnesses. It began with vomiting, followed by confusion, coma, and in 50 percent of all cases, death. Survivors were often left with permanent liver or brain damage. Desperate, terrorized parents and doctors pursued dramatic, often ineffectual treatments. For over fifteen years, many inconclusive theories were posited as to its causes. The Centers for Disease Control dispatched its Epidemic Intelligence Service to investigate, culminating in a study that suggested a link to aspirin. Congress held hearings at which parents, researchers, and pharmaceutical executives testified. The result was a warning to parents and doctors to avoid pediatric use of aspirin, leading to the widespread substitution of alternative fever and pain reducers. But before a true cause was definitively established, Reye's syndrome simply vanished.
A harrowing medical mystery, Keep Out of Reach of Children is the first and only book to chart the history of Reye's syndrome and reveal the confluence of scientific and social forces that determined the public health policy response, for better or for ill.
Mark A. Largent , a survivor of Reye's syndrome, is the author of Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America and Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States . He is a historian of science, Associate Professor in James Madison College at Michigan State University, and Associate Dean in Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University. He lives in Lansing, Michigan.
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
The personal is political, and medical. In this fascinating account, Reye's syndrome-survivor Largent weaves his own tale throughout the bigger story about this puzzling medical condition. A professor, dean, and science historian and policy expert, Largent nearly died in 1972 at age two and a half, when diarrhea, vomiting, breathing difficuties, and brain swelling killed half of Reye's victims. A top-notch doctor properly treated him with fluids, potassium, dextrose, and glucose. Largent explains how aspirin became the villain blamed for the onset of Reye's syndrome but raises questions about whether pesticides and a certain enzyme deficiency may have also played roles. This thought-provoking work certainly meets the goal of the publisher's Pathologies Series to chart the impact of disease on human individuals and populations from the biological, historical, and cultural perspectives. Reye's syndrome (named after one of the doctors who published the first study of the syndrome in 1963) has all but disappeared, possibly because of warning labels on aspirin. But Largent convincingly makes the case that it, like so many medical conditions, remains an unsolved mystery.--Springen, Karen Copyright 2015 Booklist
Choice Review
Keep Out of Reach of Children reads differently than many medical histories do, primarily because science historian Largent (Michigan State) himself suffered from Reye's syndrome. His familiarity with this condition and the manner in which his near-death experience is dramatically revealed in the prologue guide the entire narrative. Thus, this is not a dry text. Largent recounts leads and possible causes as well as many dead ends. Readers participate in the frustrations of the parents and doctors who see children die or become incapacitated. Meanwhile, industry, politicians, and scientists are all working to manage their responsibilities. The best example of these interacting forces is in chapter 3, "The Deadly Mist," in which the author discusses the conflicts between business and government interests and researchers and families. Even the conclusion is not satisfactory. As soon as a possible culprit, salicylic acid, was identified and targeted studies were prepared for implementation, the disease disappeared. The writing is clear and engaging while remaining scientific. Ample notes (43 pages) from a variety of sources support the text. Largent is also the author of Vaccine (CH, Feb'13, 50-3297). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. --John P. Bourgeois, Nicholls State University
Table of Contents
| Prologue | p. 11 |
| Chapter 1 The Discovery of ReyeÆs Syndrome | p. 25 |
| Chapter 2 Toxins: The Obvious Cause | p. 42 |
| Chapter 3 The Deadly Mist | p. 57 |
| Chapter 4 The Front Line in the Battle against Reye's Syndrome | p. 7 |
| Chapter 5 The Aspirin Hypothesis | p. 98 |
| Chapter 6 The Aspirin Industry Responds | p. 122 |
| Chapter 7 The Rise of Labels and the Fall of Reye's | p. 146 |
| Chapter 8 Labels, At Last | p. 162 |
| Chapter 9 Triumph and Dissent | p. 178 |
| Chapter 10 The Politics of Public Health | p. 197 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 211 |
| Notes | p. 214 |
| Index | p. 257 |