After kids have their tonsils removed, giving antibiotics for three days is just as effective as seven days to relieve pain and get them back to a normal diet, a new study shows.

Most ear, nose, and throat doctors prescribe a week of antibiotics for tonsillectomy patients. Clinical trials have shown it reduces the need for pain medication and promotes healing.

To see whether treatment could be shortened, researchers at New York Presbyterian Hospital randomly assigned 49 children to three or seven days of amoxicillin. There was no difference in how quickly the groups returned to normal diet and activity.

The advantages of shorter therapy include decreased cost, better patient compliance with medicine, and a decrease in bacterial resistance, concluded the study, published in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. - Marie McCullough

Mercury levels the same

in kids with and without autism

Mercury, a heavy metal, has been shown to adversely affect the developing nervous system in a fetus or child. Some parents are also concerned that it may cause autism.

But a study published last week in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives found that levels were the same in children with and without autism.

Researchers at the University of California-Davis looked at 452 children between the ages of 2 and 5: 249 diagnosed with autism, 143 developing normally and 60 with other developmental delays, such as Down syndrome. The study considered a variety of sources and forms of mercury in the environment, including vaccines and dental fillings.

The children with autism actually had lower levels of mercury. When researchers adjusted the results for fish consumption - autistic children tend to be picky eaters and so consume less fish, which contains mercury - their levels were comparable to those with typical development, as well as a representative national sample.

The researchers noted that they did not address whether mercury causes autism, since the children in the study had already been diagnosed. - Sandy Bauers

Steroids can help restore

patient's sense of smell

People who lose their sense of smell after having an upper respiratory infection might get some relief from glucocorticoids such as hydrocortisone or prednisone, according to a study by South Korean researchers.

Loss of the sense of smell is common, they write in the current Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. The problem can be caused by head trauma, chronic sinonasal inflammation and viral infections of the nose.

The Seoul National University researchers studied 71 people diagnosed with postviral olfactory loss for 12 months ending in June 2008. All the patients used a steroid-containing nasal spray twice daily to reduce inflammation. In addition, 28 patients were treated with prednisone and 43 took prednisone plus ginkgo biloba.

The researchers concluded that both groups did well, although combining the steroid with ginkgo biloba was more effective. - Josh Goldstein

Flu precautions

often not taken

Research shows - and advertisers love to remind us - that wearing a face mask and washing hands frequently can help protect against the flu, swine or otherwise.

But will you actually do it?

The findings of a study in the current Annals of Internal Medicine are sobering.

Researchers in Hong Kong divided 259 households - each with one just-confirmed case of influenza - into three groups. One group was told generally about illness prevention. A second received instruction and demonstrations on effective handwashing, was given liquid soap for the household and bottles of alcohol rub for every member. A third group got all the above for both handwashing and face masks.

After seven days, the handwashing and handwashing-plus-face mask groups had fewer new infections - but in neither case was the difference statistically significant. But note this: No more than half to two-thirds of either patients or household members in either group said they followed the guidance most of the time.

The interventions "can" prevent flu transmission, the journal's editors noted, with a caveat: "Many people assigned to hand washing or use of face masks did not use them." - Don Sapatkin