Topic
Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) is a clinical diagnosis given to children who have
a dramatic – sometimes overnight – onset of neuropsychiatric symptoms including obsessions/compulsions
or food restriction. They are often diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or an eating
disorder, but the sudden onset of symptoms separates PANS from these other disorders. In addition, they
may have symptoms of depression, irritability, anxiety, and have difficulty with schoolwork. The cause of
PANS is unknown in most cases but is thought to be triggered by infections, metabolic disturbances, and
other inflammatory reactions.
Like PANS, children with Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal
Infections (PANDAS) have an acute onset – within 2 to 3 days – of neuropsychiatric symptoms, specifically
OCD or tics (involuntary, purposeless movements). However, PANDAS patients test positive for a recent
streptococcal infection, such as strep throat, perianal strep or scarlet fever. Like PANS patients, they also
may suffer from uncontrollable emotions, irritability, anxiety and loss of academic ability and handwriting
skills. Although PANDAS was identified as a medical syndrome more than a decade before PANS, it has
been classified as a subset of PANS. To date, PANDAS is the only known subset of PANS, but we may
discover more causes in the future.
This is an interesting new discovery in microbiology. What are your thoughts on this topic? What other
diseases seem to be caused by an autoimmune response due to a microbial infection?
PANS | PANS: Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome. Https://med.stanford.edu/pans.html, n.d.
Web. 15 May 2017. https://med.stanford.edu/pans.html (Links to an external site.).
Weintraub, Pamela. “Hidden Invaders.” Discover Magazine. Discover Magazine, 29 Mar. 2017. Web. 15
May 2017. http://discovermagazine.com/2017/april-2017/hidden-invaders.html”. (Links to an external site.)
Requirements:
Your initial post is due by Thursday and should follow the rubric. Click on the three periods above right and
choose show rubric. Items to be sure you include are research information from your textbook, the module
or an appropriate outside source, properly referenced with a citation. Be sure you are addressing the actual
topic, very rarely is a definition style answer appropriate. We want to know your thoughts, based on the
research you have done, not copy/pasted from the internet.
Your initial post must contain at least one reputable source other than your textbook or those listed above.
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new relevant information to the discussion and integrate multiple views or outside sources (with citations).
You will not be able to see their responses until you post your own.
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citations and Works Cited. Just a web address is not a proper citation. Link to OCC Site on Plagiarism
Do not directly quote information unless it is a statistic, or a statement made by a person, which is
important to your point. I want to see summarizations that show me you understand what you are talking
about, not quotes.
Rubric
