Reye’s Syndrome

Reye’s Syndrome, rare disease of young and teenage children that apparently occurs only after a viral infection. First described in 1963 by Australian pathologist and physician Douglas Reye, this noncontagious but dangerous disease has proven fatal in about one out of four cases. Its cause is unknown.

Symptoms of Reye's syndrome include a high fever, vomiting, liver abnormalities, and various displays of mental disorientation. Most importantly, cells in the patient's brain begin to swell. If this process goes untreated, it can lead to irreversible brain damage or to coma and death. Treatment of the brain swelling consists of relieving pressure inside the skull, if necessary by surgical techniques.

Progression of Reye's syndrome to a dangerous stage has been associated, to a statistically significant degree, with the administration of aspirin or other salicylates to children suffering from viral infections such as chicken pox and influenza. Aspirin manufacturers began placing warning labels to this effect on their products in the mid-1980s. Since that time, the incidence of the disease in the U.S. seems to have declined.