Although most people are still concerned about swine flu this summer, there are other infections that more typically attack this time of year, including enteroviral infections, parainfluenza, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and West Nile encephalitis.

One of the least well known, but perhaps most deadly, is Naegleria fowleri, which can cause amebic meningoencephalitis, a rapid and usually fatal infection. It affects children who swim in warm, stagnant water, such as a pond, lake, or poorly chlorinated swimming pool. Although very rare, these infections, about three a year, are most common during the summer in the southern United States.

To help prevent Naegleria infections, the CDC recommends that people 'avoid water-related activities in warm freshwater during periods of high water temperature and low water levels' and 'hold their nose shut or use nose clips when taking part in water-related activities in bodies of warm freshwater such as lakes, rivers, or hot springs.'

Although many parents with kids at summer camp are worried about swine flu right now, there are still a lot of the old summer camp infection standbys out there, like impetigo and of course, head lice.

This summer, campers have a new weapon against head lice, which is especially good news for parents who don't like to use anti-lice drugs like Nix, Rid, Ovide, or Lindane, since they consider them to be pesticides. Now instead of coming up with their own recipes for head lice home remedies, such as mayonnaise, olive oil, or vaseline, they can try Ulesfia (Benzyl Alcohol Lotion 5%) which was recently approved to treat children over six months of age with head lice. Unlike other head lice shampoos, Ulesfia is a water-soluble gel that works to suffocate head lice.

There is yet another recall this week -- this time about 1 million play yards are being recalled because the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that their 'side rail can fail to latch properly and when a child pushes against the rail it can unlatch unexpectedly, posing a fall hazard to children.'

These play yards include a number of models made by Kolcraft, Carter's, Sesame Street, Jeep, Contours, Care Bear and Eric Carle Play Yards and were sold from January 2000 to January 2009 in stores nationwide. There have been at least 347 reports of play yards collapsing and 21 injuries to young children.

If you have a recalled play yard, you should stop using it until you can get a free repair kit from Kolcraft.

Related:
CPSC: Kolcraft Play Yard Recall Alert
Baby Cribs
Baby Product Recalls
Registering Your Car Seat

We are still dealing with several food recalls right now, including the E. coli cookie dough recall that has affected 72 people in 30 states and an E. coli outbreak from beef products that has affected 23 people in 9 states.

There is a new recall now -- various foods made with instant nonfat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers, and gums (thickening agents) manufactured by Plainview Milk Products Cooperative. It is thought that these food products might be contaminated with Salmonella.

In addition to Malt-O-Meal Hearty Traditions Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal and other brands of instant oatmeal , other recall food products include some brands of non-fat dried milk powder, other drink mix products, and butter flavored toppings from Kroger. If you have any of these recalled products, throw them out or try to get a refund, and call your pediatrician if your child recently ate any of the recalled products and has any symptoms of salmonella.