Pediatric COVID-19 cases skyrocketed this past week, with Cook Children’s Medical Center reporting one-in-three children tested turning up positive—all less than a month after the first omicron case was reported in North Texas.Positive cases now …

By Justin Smith, M.D. aka The Doc SmittyThere’s been a ton of surprises related to the COVID pandemic and skipping flu season last year was another one I never saw coming.Masks and social distancing definitely played a role but the absolute lack of …

This year has been especially difficult, but in the midst of the pandemic, there’s one silver lining.As of Dec. 5, hundreds of children have been tested for flu and RSV at Cook Children’s Medical Center, and none have come back positive. Ramon …

Man…it’s going to be a doozy of a winter. And while I’m confident that we’ll get through it together, I need your help. Ruling out COVID-19 for kids with symptoms (some mild, some more severe) has become the biggest reason for kids visiting …

By Diane Arnaout, M.D. Well…there’s no doubt about it. 2020 is going down in the record books as a real dumpster fire of a year. We have a new enemy. The novel coronavirus has slithered its unpredictable and sometimes deadly tentacles into …

As COVID-19 continues to circulate widely in Texas, the upcoming flu season has taken on a greater sense of urgency among health care workers. Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference Thursday at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas to …

“Make sure your hair is dry. “Wear shoes outside.” “Put on your hat.” Does any of this really matter? Is any of it true? Between well-meaning friends and family members and the wealth of websites devoted to health, parents are bombarded …

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the coronavirus lately. I thought we should take some time to go over the basics of this respiratory illness, based in China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring …

Your child’s throat is sore, has a headache and a fever. Is it strep or the flu? Maybe, both? Strep and flu are two very different things, although they may have similar symptoms at times. First, let’s distinguish between the two. The …

An unusual and even deadly flu season continues to impact the area's children. Last week (Dec. 22-Dec.28, 2019) at Cook Children's Medical Center, 1,457 children tested for the flu. Five hundred forty-six patients tested positive for …

On Thursday, Dec. 5, Tarrant County Public Health confirmed the first pediatric flu death since 2015. Three other pediatric flu deaths have been reported in Texas in this current season. “Because of the sensitive nature of the information, we …