This year in the United States there has been considerable controversy about circumstantial evidence linking salicylates to the pathogenesis of Reye syndrome and, in particular, whether that evidence is sufficiently strong to justify action. After careful review both the Federal government and the American Academy of Pediatrics have warned physicians and parents of the possible risk of Reye syn...

To determine whether vaccination with live virus vaccines may be etiologically related to Reye syndrome, we examined 404 cases reported to the Center for Disease Control. Fifteen of 269 children with Reye syndrome has been inoculated with live virus vaccines within 30 days before onset of illness. Although this temporal relationship may have occurred by chance, seasonal distribution and cluster...

Reye syndrome, a condition of unknown etiology, is characterized by encephalopathy and fatty infiltration of the liver after viral infections, notably influenza B and varicella [1] . A history of relatively large doses of aspirin ingested during the infection is usually elicited [2] . Reye syndrome is seen most often in children ages 6 months to 15 years; the computed tomographic (CT) findings ...

This study examines the relationship between impaired fatty acid oxidation and the pathogenesis of Reye syndrome. We present a hypothesis proposing that many clinical signs of this childhood disease are caused by accumulation of unusual acyl CoA esters, precursors to deacylated metabolites found in the patients' blood and urine. A new method was developed to measure acyl CoA compounds in small ...

Aspirin should not be used to treat acute febrile viral illness in children. (Strength of Recommendation [SOR]: C, based on case-control studies). Although no causal link has been proven, data from case-control and historic cohort studies demonstrate an association between aspirin use and Reye syndrome. The risk of Reye syndrome decreases with age, becoming extremely rare by the late teenage ye...