Doctors have stated that kids are being sent home by child care centers when it is not necessary following mild illnesses.

Directors have said in a new survey of centers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that they would send kids back more than half the time for minor ailments.

The researchers have stated that this is not needed and all this is counter to long-standing professional guidelines.

Dr Andrew N. Hashikawa of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee said, "By the time kids have symptoms, they've already been contagious, and they've already done the damage. It doesn't do any good to send these kids home."

Hashikawa and colleagues for their survey interviewed 305 childcare center directors. These directors were asked what step would they take in certain difrent scenarios that Hashikawa presented them with.

Hashikawa said, "There are conditions where you'd obviously send a kid home. We found that oftentimes they are sent home when they really don't need to be."

This was agreed to by Calvin Moore, Jr., president of the National Association for Family Child Care, which represents about 8000 centers across the country.