Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville

Until recently many of us hadn’t heard about measles and didn’t really think too much about it (I haven’t really since my Board Exams 8 years ago).  So what is measles?  Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through contact with an infected person’s respiratory secretions.  In fact the virus can live up to

Let’s talk ticks!  Ticks are small arachnids (related to spiders) that are obligate exoparasites, which means that they need to feed on the blood of mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians to survive.  While ticks are a little gross to think about, the reason both parents and doctors alike worry about ticks is because of the

No one loves the return of summer weather more than I do, however as temperatures are heating up it’s a good time to remember that every year an average of 38 children under the age of 15 die in the United States from heatstroke in cars.  In fact, 2018 had the highest number of hot-car

Food allergy refers to an overreaction of the body’s immune system to a food protein which can be serious or even fatal.  These reactions are called IgE-mediated or Immediate Type Hypersensitivity and are different from food intolerances or other interactions between foods and the immune system.  The term we give for the set of symptoms

This month we celebrate World No Tobacco Day, which provides a great opportunity to raise awareness about the harmful effects tobacco exposure has on our children.  Tobacco exposure comes in many forms-the most direct and most harmful of which, is smoking in teenagers and young adults.  In addition to the well-documented risks of smoking including

When my sons turned 15 months old I recall becoming rather emotional when I held them while a nurse administered their three vaccines each.  In hindsight, my teary eyes were the result of a mix of the boys’ recognition that vaccines are painful and the fear that many parents have nowadays: could I be harming