Health Update: Valium prevents fits

Cherrill Hicks
Monday 09 August 1993 23:02 BST
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A TRANQUILLISER normally used to treat anxiety can prevent convulsions in children with high fever, according to research from Boston, Massachusetts. Febrile convulsions in a small child with a high temperature can be worrying for parents, and repeated fits are thought to trigger epilepsy and brain damage. A study of 960 small children, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown that, given orally, the tranquilliser diazepam (brand name Valium), reduces the risk of fits recurring.

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