Nearly 200 health care professionals from the around the state are in DesMoines today to talk about “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.” Iowa’s seen adramatic increase in “SIDS” deaths. It strikes seemingly healthy babiesunder one-year old. Dr. Herman Hein is a special consultant on the problemfor the Iowa Department of Public Health. Hein says he doesn’t know whythere’s been a dramatic increase in SIDS deaths, but says in most casesthey’re preventable. Hein says parents may be getting complacent about SIDSbecause there hasn’t been any major awareness campaign in awhile.Hein says he would love to have a large grant to put together a publicawareness campaign on the problem. He says smoking and improper sleepingpositions contribute to SIDS deaths, but research continues to try and findthe cause.Approximately 40 babies have died of SIDS this year in Iowa compared to atotal of 25 such deaths in the last two years combined.
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