Sister of sneezing girl sick too

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) - The sneezing girl is back.

Lauren Johnson, of Chesapeake, made national headlines in 2009 when she couldn't stop sneezing.

Several months later, doctors made a controversial diagnosis, pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder, or PANDAS.

She got treatment and the sneezing stopped. Now she has a new facial tick and her sister, Audrey Johnson, is sick too.

Audrey is showing other signs of PANDAS - anxiety and obsessive compulsive behavior.

"I always like to clean and like go over what she does, I just like everything to be perfect," Audrey told WAVY.com.

Their mother, Lynn Johnson, is consumed with it. She started a non-profit organization with the doctor treating her daughters.

"Our mission is to educate, communicate, and cure," Lynn said. She wants the world to know her family's fight is just one of many.

"We've had over 1600 families in 12 months reach out to us," Lynn added.

Like the Mastrangelo family, of Pennsylvania, whose fun loving son suddenly became "a mumbling mess holding his head and telling it to stop," the Austin's 3-year-old suddenly "turned into a raging obsessive compulsive child" and the Tapia's son woke up one morning with a strange blink.

The list goes on and on.

Dr. Denis Bouboulis, the organization's co-founder said, "I am now seeing children from all over the world. Not just the United States, I have patients from Australia, Singapore, Dubai."

Dr. Bouboulis indicated most children have strep or a respiratory infection just before the onset of symptoms.

He also said children are at higher risk when their parents have autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and thyroid disease.

He added that there is a higher incidence in siblings like the Johnsons.

The sisters' symptoms are under control, but another infection could trigger the ticks at any time.

Dr. Bouboulis estimates up to five percent of all children could have PANDAS and be misdiagnosed.

For more information on this disorder, visit www.pandasresourcenetwork.org