08/22/2026
One Friday morning last fall, writer Jessica Slice’s eight-year-old daughter Rose woke up with a sore throat. At first, it felt like a minor cold, but over the next few days, she started to change. First, her arms and legs would suddenly and uncontrollably shoot out in front of her. Not long after, Rose said she felt like she was “vibrating inside.” Within a week, she began to wail for hours on end, threaten to harm herself and others, and displayed severe motor control problems.
But multiple doctors denied there was any medical issue, telling Slice to bring Rose to a psychiatrist instead. “I don’t know how long our pattern of ER visits and outpatient referrals might have continued had I not texted a group of friends that evening to share Rose’s story,” Slice writes. “One friend — a doctor — texted back an idea: “Have you looked into PANS?”
PANS, or “pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome,” is a form of brain inflammation caused by infection that affects an estimated one in around 12,000 children every year. A reliable test for the disease is still elusive, so diagnosis currently hinges on developing sudden-onset OCD or restrictive eating and at least two out of nine concurrent symptoms, which include aggression, motor abnormalities, and sleep changes. But there’s widespread medical skepticism surrounding the condition, and funding for research is sparse.
Splice writes about her fight to treat Rose and speaks to PANS patients and medical experts about their experience with the disease, the struggle to diagnose it, and the vocal community of physicians actively opposing the disease’s recognition: https://nymag.visitlink.me/5FU0Va
