PANDAS: Illuminating a Disorder and its Controversy

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Credit surroundsound5000 via Flickr Creative Commons

The loudest and largest debate in health-care over these past few years has centered on coverage and how it ought or ought not to be extended to millions of uninsured Americans.  But for some Americans, coverage isn’t the problem – the problem is getting doctors to agree on the diagnosis and treatment for baffling, or inconclusively researched conditions.

You may have heard some of the debate over Chronic Lyme.  You probably haven’t heard anything about “PANDAS”. It stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.  Here to tell us more about what it is, the medical controversy surrounding “PANDAS” and the families who are suffering as a result is Neil Swidey, staff writer with the Boston Globe.