Recently, when a five-month-old wailed at a city hospital, it wasn't the high fever and respiratory infection that worried his doctors. The burns on his face, apparently brought on after the infant was given steam inhalation for his respiratory illness, upset them.

"Such scars are nasty reminders of hazardous misconceptions about diseases," says Deepa Hariharan, neo-natologist, Sooriya Hospitals. For years, doctors had been saying there was no scientific evidence that steam inhalation can offer relief to respiratory illness. With the December issue of the Indian Pediatrics emphasising on it through a 'systematic review of randomised controlled trials' by Dr Joseph L Mathew of the Advanced Pediatrics Centre at PGIMER, Chandigarh, doctors' voices are getting louder..........click for more

Source Web Page: Times of India