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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | September 6, 2019 03:48 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Joe Emrick |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Resolution Designating October 9, 2019 as "PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day" in Pennsylvania |
| In the near future I will be introducing a resolution designating October 9, 2019 as “PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day” in Pennsylvania. The purpose of this resolution is to raise awareness of two common childhood afflictions which most parents, and many health professionals and educators are presently unaware of - Pediatric Acute Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS). PANS and PANDAS, which are believed to affect one in every 200 children, are infection induced autoimmune conditions that disrupt the normal neurologic functioning of the brain. Children with PANS and PANDAS tend to manifest symptoms such as tics or other abnormal movements, severe separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, irritability, aggression, personality changes, ADHD, marked deterioration in learning and school performance, extreme oversensitivity of the five senses, sleep disturbances, and developmental regression, including deterioration in handwriting. Children may experience moderate to dramatic improvement with antibiotics, intravenous immunoglobulin treatment, or plasmapheresis. Too often, however, PANS & PANDAS are misdiagnosed as behavioral and are mistakenly treated with psychiatric medications that do not address the root cause of their symptoms. It is my hope that this resolution will not only raise awareness of these little known, and frequently undiagnosed or misdiagnosed disorders, but will also stress the necessity for the proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment of children exhibiting the signs and symptoms of PANS and PANDAS. Please join me in sponsoring this resolution. |
Introduced as HR510