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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, April 10, 2005

Fun Web tool teaches families what triggers allergies

Advertiser News Services

Flowers in bloom are pleasing to the eye but a pain to many allergy sufferers. To help teach parents and children about allergies, Children's Medical Center Dallas has launched an interactive Web tool, located at www.childrens.com/allergyseason, that makes it fun for families to learn about allergy triggers found inside and outside the home.

Children's Medical Center's interactive Web tool teaches parents and children about allergy and asthma triggers around the house and garden.

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The panoramic, flash-animated scene lets users explore a house and yard. The tool requires a Web browser flash plug-in, which can be downloaded for free at www.macromedia.com, if it isn't already installed.

The pop-up tool features flash animation with red warning signs that appear when a cursor is placed over any of the allergy triggers, which are represented by illustrations such as a teddy bear and lawn mower.

Clicking on the warning signs that appear over the allergy triggers activates a pop-up that gives tips on how to avoid a particular allergy trigger.

For example, clicking on the warning sign over weeds in the yard results in a pop-up that says, "Keep your yard free of weeds. Many weeds, such as ragweed, sagebrush, pigweed and Russian thistle cause big problems for allergy sufferers."

The interactive teaching tool also allows users to take a 10-question quiz to test their knowledge of what they've learned from the interactive tool.

"This is a simple and fun way to convey important health information," said Dr. Thanai Pongdee, an allergy and asthma specialist at Children's Medical Center Dallas and an assistant professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "We've designed it so that it is informational for parents and caregivers and made it colorful to attract and entertain children."

In addition to the allergy information, the award-winning Web site features up-to-date pediatric health information useful to parents and caregivers.

Source: Children's Medical Center Dallas