Some victims of cerebral palsy have even more to worry about, say medical watchdog groups in the U.S. and Europe.

Some doctors have treated these children with Botox as a way to treat leg spasticity but, unfortunately, reports of dangerous side effects like speech disorders, breathing problems and difficulties swallowing or holding up the head — including death — have forced the Health Sciences Authority to re-evaluate the drug.

Botox is, of course, most widely known for ironing out wrinkles but it has also been used for a variety of medical purposes.

The HSA said it has always monitored drugs for negative side effects — but ever since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year highlighted safety concerns over botulinum toxins, the local authority “has kept close watch on this development although we had not seen local cases.”

Recently, the European Medicines Agency noted it had recorded over 600 cases of negative effects. In February, the FDA said it was conducting a safety review of the drug.

The Reuters news service is reporting that a once-used practice of giving antibiotics to some women at risk of premature birth may have increased the odds their children will develop cerebral palsy and other problems.

The report references a  study published in the journal Lancet, which looked at women at risk of premature labor who had no signs of infection. Doctors now recommend antibiotics only for women whose waters have broken prematurely or have an obvious infection.

The findings reaffirm that doctors should not use antibiotics for premature labor when the mother’s water is intact and if there is no infection, said researchers at the University of Leicester who commissioned the study.

One startling finding, for women whose water did not break and who got two popular antibiotics together, the chance their children would develop cerebral palsy nearly tripled.

While it was known children born prematurely are more prone to functional problems later in life, the link to cerebral palsy was unexpected.

Source: Reuters

Though not much is known about the causes of autism, angry families in the United States are blaming childhood vaccines.

In 2004, the Institute of Medicine promised there was no credible evidence showing that the preservative thimerosal contained in some vaccines caused autism, but that has not stopped nearly 5,000 lawsuits alleging the contrary.

It is a general contention among all the pending lawsuits that the vaccines containing thimerosal were the cause of autism in the children—they do, however, disagree on exactly how.

Some of the birth trauma attorneys handling these cases say that only the thimerosal in the vaccines caused the neurological disorders. Others argue that the injections also contained a form of mercury that overexcited certain brain cells. To settle this discrepancy, the Office of Special Masters of the claims court has instructed plaintiffs to carry out three tests for each of the theories.

Thimerosal has been removed from standard children’s vaccines, but remains in flu vaccines that are packaged as multiple doses. Unfortunately, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says single dose flu vaccines are available only in limited numbers for the time being. Until more are produced for and distributed to the children in need of them, the threat of adverse thimerosal side effects remains.

If you are among the families battling autism and believe a loved one has been harmed by a one of these childhood vaccines, it important to contact an experienced birth trauma attorney and defective drugs attorney for professional insight.