As part of our National Immunization Awareness Month coverage, we look at pneumonia, an infection that hurts many throughout the world, including people in the U.S., every year. Pneumonia is a vaccine-preventable pulmonary infection that causes coughing, fever, shortness of breath, and in some cases even death.
The TDaP vaccination series protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis, all of which are serious bacterial diseases. Diphtheria and pertussis are spread from person to person through bodily secretions via coughing or sneezing. Tetanus enters through cuts, scratches, or wounds on the body.
According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prior to the vaccination as many as 200,000 cases of diphtheria, 200,000 cases of pertussis, and hundreds of cases of tetanus were reported annually in the United States. The TDaP vaccine is very safe, and it has proven to be the best way to prevent these diseases. Since routine vaccination began, the number of cases of tetanus and diphtheria dropped by 99 percent and those of pertussis by 80 percent.
Imagine this. You are a hockey player who wins a game and then goes out with friends to celebrate. You have a minor headache at the end of the night but think nothing of it. You grab some aspirin and go to bed. You wake up, but not until twelve days later. This scenario sounds like something out of a horror film, not real life, but it is exactly what happened to the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens’ young prospect player, Tim Bozon.
As we head further into August, and into National Immunization Awareness Month, more students are heading back to school. Whether it is high school or college, many of these students require routine vaccinations. Often, however, two extremely important vaccines are kept off the list: the human papillomavirus and hepatitis B immunizations.
Just over 20 years ago, chickenpox was a common childhood disease, affecting as many as 4 million children in the United States each year. Now, after the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine, the number of children impacted by the disease has dropped by as much as 90 percent. But, the chickenpox vaccine could also prove to be end of another common infection, shingles.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by a reactivation of the chickenpox virus in those who have been infected. The virus can cause some serious problems, including nerve damage in some individuals and possible blindness, if the infection reaches a person’s face. However, research shows those who receive the chickenpox vaccine have a significantly lower chance of contracting shingles later in life, much lower than those who were infected by chickenpox as children.
Vaccination rates for chickenpox vary between regions in North America with locales that mandate children be immunized to start school having the highest percentage. Hospitalization rates due to the disease have dropped over 90 percent since the varicella vaccine was introduced, and, like measles, eradication is seen as possible, as long as vaccination rates improve.
What many parents don’t realize is there is potential risk involved in not giving their children a chickenpox vaccination, especially if they contract shingles. If the parents themselves contracted the virus as children, they may have shingles later in life, and their shingles could infect a child that has not been immunized. This becomes dangerous as a child ages. Once he or she enters the teen years, chickenpox can go from being a nuisance to a life threatening infection.
Chickenpox vaccination is truly a one-two punch: it stops the initial virus and can help prevent shingles later on in life. For children, it is invaluable. It will help protect them while they are young and provide additional protection if their parents or friends contract either disease.
To learn more about chickenpox, see our page on the immunization.
What did you do when your child contracted chickenpox? Or did they not? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page. Also, feel free to chat with us on Twitter.
