Keep Out of Reach of Children: Reye s Syndrome, Aspirin, and the Politics of Public Health

by Mark A. Largent

“A fascinating history of a public health crisis. Compellingly written and insightful, Keep Out of Reach of Children traces the discovery of Reye’s syndrome, research into its causes, industry’s efforts to avoid warning labels on one suspected cause, aspirin, and the feared disease’s sudden disappearance. Largent’s empathy is with the myriad children and parents harmed by the disease, while he challenges the triumphalist view that labeling solved the crisis.” —ERIK M. CONWAY, coauthor of Merchants of Doubt

“Largent’s engaging and honest account explores how medical mysteries are shaped by prevailing narratives about venal drug companies, heroic investigators, and Johnny-come-lately politicians.” —HELEN EPSTEIN, author of The Invisible Cure

“Fascinating. . . . Thought-provoking.” — Booklist

“Well-researched. . . . A revealing work.” — Kirkus Reviews

Reye’s syndrome, identified in 1963, was a debilitating, rare condition that typically afflicted healthy children just emerging from the flu or other minor illnesses. It began with vomiting, followed by confusion, coma, and in 50 percent of all cases, death. Survivors were often left with permanent liver or brain damage. Desperate, terrorized parents and doctors pursued dramatic, often ineffectual treatments. For over fifteen years, many inconclusive theories were posited as to its causes. The Centers for Disease Control dispatched its Epidemic Intelligence Service to investigate, culminating in a study that suggested a link to aspirin. Congress held hearings at which parents, researchers, and pharmaceutical executives testified. The result was a warning to parents and doctors to avoid pediatric use of aspirin, leading to the widespread substitution of alternative fever and pain reducers. But before a true cause was definitively established, Reye’s syndrome simply vanished.

A harrowing medical mystery, Keep Out of Reach of Children is the first and only book to chart the history of Reye’s syndrome and reveal the confluence of scientific and social forces that determined the public health policy response, for better or for ill.

Mark A. Largent, a survivor of Reye’s syndrome, is the author of Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America and Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States. He is a historian of science, Associate Professor in James Madison College at Michigan State University, and Associate Dean in Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University. He lives in Lansing, Michigan.

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2015

About the author

Mark Largent is an Associate Professor in James Madison College at Michigan State University and directs the Science, Technology, Environment and Public Policy Specialization. He earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota's Program in Science and Technology in 2000 and has taught history of science, science policy, and American history classes at Michigan State, Oregon State, and the University of Puget Sound. His first book, Breeding Contempt, explores the history of compulsory sterilization in the United States. His most recent book, Vaccine: The Modern American Debate, traces the emergence of parents' current concerns about the modern vaccine schedule. He is now working on a history of Reye's syndrome.

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was born in 1985 and was never given aspirin as a kid because of the story that it can cause Reye's Syndrome. Reading this book I was a bit stunned to discover they never found any sure proof that aspirin was behind this peculiar condition, and there is some evidence that it was not. Case in point: the author himself is a Reye's survivor and he was not exposed to aspirin.

I liked the book and I think anyone with an interest in public health and/or medicine in general would like it, but it did kind of peter out at the end. Which is understandable, given that (spoiler alert) Reye's Syndrome itself kind of quietly disappeared before anyone could even find out for sure what it was, whether it was a toxin, some kind of virus, who knows.

[Amber Andrews Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I appreciate the book, as a survivor of Reyes in the early 70's. I just found it hard to get through all the facts. It seemed more like a research paper.

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reye’s syndrome was known and feared in my household because my cousin nearly died of it. Later, in elementary school, a classmate spoke under her breath about an older brother she never met who had died of it around the same time. We knew it had something to do with aspirin, and that’s why kids don’t take aspirin anymore. What I didn’t realize until recently was how exceedingly rare reye’s syndrome is, made moreso because of its unexplained disappearance in the mid-eighties. So I read this book to learn about a dimly remembered panic from my childhood, and the book delivered. The outbreak of reye’s and the subsequent handling of it by scientists and policymakers is a fascinating story, a true medical mystery that remains unsolved.

[Joni Sensel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was amazed to stumble on this book because I believe my little sister died of Reye's Syndrome in the years after it was identified but before the dangers of aspirin for kids with flu became publically known. This book can be a bit dry -- it's intended more for an academic or specialty audience than general readers, I think -- but the author did amazing research and tries hard to remain objective. Very interesting (and discouraging, given what it reveals about the influence of politics, money, and ego on life and death decisions our government makes).