PANS - the Mystery Illness

In my last newsletter I wrote about ADHD pretenders. In that line, I would like to introduce a relatively unknown disease in children that also mimics mental health problems, but is a reaction to an infection, often a strep throat. This disease has the innocent sounding name of PANDAS but is anything but sweet and cuddly – and it is not rare, affecting 1 in 200 children (in the US – the numbers are thought to be similar in other developed countries). Children present with a sudden onset of severe anxiety and OCD behaviours: a child who used to be happy and easy-going all ofy a sudden cannot bear to be separated from a parent at night or in school; they may wash their hands obsessively or refuse to eat food, as they have a new fear of germs; they may develop new, unusual behaviours, such as flipping light switches compulsively, or touching objects, compulsively performing symmetric movements with both hands or feet. Some children develop tics, such as eye blinking, shoulder shrugging, snorting, or throat clearing.