By Alabama Public Radio
Nashville TN – A high percentage of children may not be getting a proper diagnosis when is comes to the flu. New research from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville suggests doctors are failing to properly read the symptoms, which could end up depriving children of medicines that could both shorten the illness as well as keep the illness from spreading it to others. Researchers say flu infections were missed in four out of five preschoolers who were treated for flu symptoms at a doctor's office or emergency room and in about three-quarters of those who were hospitalized. The government-funded study was published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.