Physicians have been the butt of the joke with the punch line, "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning," for many years. Recently, even the likes of Dr "J" and Larry Bird have used it to sell sneakers on a television commercial, reflecting the age-old telephone advice given by the physician trying to get a little extra sleep. It is not funny anymore.
Suddenly, we are told by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),1-3 the Surgeon General of the United States,4 and the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases5 that such advice is not appropriate for parents whose children are febrile or complaining of aches and pains associated with the prodromata of varicella or influenza because aspirin may increase the chances of Reye's syndrome developing in their child. Of course, in heeding this advice and not being able to determine over the