What is PANDAS, the disorder some say can cause extreme behavioral changes in kids?
Alexia Baier was an eager-to-learn, 4-year-old girl beginning pre-K in a suburb outside of Chicago. She thrived academically -- counting, painting and playing with other children. But five months after starting pre-K, she was infected with a bacteria that several millions of people get every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bacteria, group A strep, caused Alexia to get strep throat, a condition children usually recover from easily with treatment. After 10 days of antibiotics, the infection disappeared but so did Alexia's bubbly personality. Within two days after completing antibiotics, Alexia began showing behavioral changes at home and eventually at school. She suddenly became defiant and explosive. "It was a lot of screaming, a lot of hitting and...