Stop tarnishing steroid and Chinese medicine
- PDF / 142,560 Bytes
- 2 Pages / 595.22 x 842 pts (A4) Page_size
- 51 Downloads / 152 Views
Stop tarnishing steroid and Chinese medicine Kam Lun E. Hon, Vivian Wing Yan Lee, Ting Fan Leung Hong Kong, China
I
Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, China (Hon KLE); School of Pharmacy, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China (Lee VWY); Department of Pediatrics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, China (Leung TF) Corresponding Author: Kam Lun E. Hon, Department of Pediatrics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 6/F, Clinical Sciences Building, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, China (Tel: 852 2632 2859; Fax: 852 2636 0020; Email: [email protected]) doi: 10.1007/s12519-015-0053-z Online First November 2015 ©Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015. All rights reserved.
World J Pediatr, Vol 12 No 2 . May 15, 2016 . www.wjpch.com
of unproven efficacy.[14] Paradoxically, some of these alternative treatments may contain potent CS and unknowingly used by steroid phobic parents.[8,15] Eminent CM practitioners are especially tempted to prescribe CS to preserve their reputation that CM is efficacious in the treatment of any disease. It may be difficult to convince anxious steroid phobic parents to be cautious in the use of often adulterated proprietary CM. Nevertheless, the media has an important role not to directly disgrace CM and indirectly tarnish CS usage. Scientifically, CM is an important branch of medicine, and topical or systemic CS is a very important class of immunomodulating and anti-inflammatory medication. Steroids are inexpensive and efficacious armamentariums. They are often lifesaving in management of such severe diseases as life-threatening asthma, anaphylaxis, systemic inflammatory disorders and even childhood malignancies (such as leukemia and solid brain tumors). In Hong Kong, both CM and CS have important roles in disease management. The media should understand that the culprit is not CM or CS but rather the irresponsible practitioners. Tarnishing CS usage certainly does not help with the already evil image of CS among steroid phobic parents. Western and CM practitioners and the media should work together to promote correct public health education on this important class of medicine. Money is not evil but the love of money is the root of all evil. CS is definitely not an evil.
Funding: None. Ethical approval: Not applicable for this commentary article. Competing interest: None. Contributors: Hon KLE is the principal author, Lee VWY and Leung TF are pediatrician and pharmacist, respectively, who contribute expert comments.
References
1 Apple Daily, 2014. http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/ art/20140827/18846011 (accessed October 15, 2014). 2 Oriental News, 2011. http://m.on.cc/nc/hknews/20111112/20111 112205315lc.html (accessed October 15, 2014). 3 Apple Daily, 2006. http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/template/ apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20061202&sec_id=4104&art_ id=6581414 (acces
Data Loading...
