FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BURKE, VA. September 7, 2012. Out of concern for the long-term health of premature babies, PreemieWorld, LLC has created a petition to ask the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to revise its current Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) guidelines so that all infants born prior to 37 weeks gestation automatically qualify for a full season of Synagis for at least one year.

After almost a decade of providing guidelines that did recommend a full season of Synagis for all premature babies, in 2009 the AAP has dramatically changed its recommendations limiting doses for the majority of infants while disqualifying others altogether. In a typical season, premature babies would receive an injection every month.

“Parents and professionals in the community are stunned by this change.” comments Deb Discenza, Co-Founder of PreemieWorld, LLC. “Why would the medical community spend so much time and money saving and protecting that tiny baby only to send it home into a risky environment? RSV is a small cold to the average adult. To a premature baby with a fragile immune system it can spell grave illness, hospitalization and even death.”

“If I thought that the AAP was providing real clinically-based evidence in these changes, then I would support it. However, noting that RSV can occur several times in one season and that they are not following proper labeling instructions as approved by the Food & Drug Administration tells me that the guidelines need to be reverted until full research can be done.”

Deb Discenza is the mother of a girl born at 30-weeks gestation. She is the author of The Preemie Parent’s Survivival Guide to the NICU, heads up PreemieWorld, LLC at www.PreemieWorld.com and is the moderator of a 12,000 member online social network for parents of premature babies at http://www.inspire.com/groups/preemie/

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