The immediate physical effects of drinking alcohol range from mild mood changes to complete loss of coordination, vision, balance, and speech -- any of which can be signals of the temporary systemic poisoning known as acute alcohol intoxication, or drunkenness. These effects usually wear off in a matter of hours after a person stops drinking. Many law-enforcement agencies regard a .08 percentage of alcohol in the bloodstream as evidence of intoxication. Larger amounts of blood alcohol can impair brain function and eventually cause unconsciousness; an extreme overdose can be fatal.

Treatment for a child who has fetal alcohol effects is designed to meet his or her unique needs and may include educational support (early intervention), social skills training, vocational training, and counseling. The child's family will need assistance and access to community resources. If the mother has an alcohol abuse problem, she needs treatment for the problem.

The effects of alcohol on a fetus vary, depending on the amount and frequency of the pregnant woman's drinking and the fetus's stage of development. Other factors that may not be clearly identifiable, such as genetic makeup, may also contribute to a fetus being affected by alcohol. Never drinking more than 2 drinks on any one day and never drinking alcohol more than once a week can protect against having a baby affected by alcohol.

The American Academy of Pediatrics uses the following criteria for diagnosing alcohol-related effects in children. (See the Symptoms section for a description of these effects.) For a child to be diagnosed with these conditions, alcohol abuse during pregnancy must be confirmed.

Virtually every culture has warned against overuse of alcohol, and some have prohibited it outright, rarely with lasting success. While laws and educational programs in the United States are designed to prevent alcohol abuse, commercial and social pressure continues to put people at risk. Alcoholism is particularly insidious among young people and the elderly, in part because the symptoms are not easily recognized until the affected person becomes truly alcohol dependent.

Chronic alcoholism is a progressive, potentially fatal disease, characterized by an incessant craving for, increased tolerance of, physical dependence upon, and loss of control over drinking alcohol. The physical dependence on alcohol may or may not be obvious to other

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