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Vaccinations Belong on Parents' Back-to-School Checklists

Posted 20 Aug 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Aug. 20 – Vaccinations among school-aged children can save lives and parents should be sure their children are fully immunized as part of their back-to-school preparations, according to a pediatric infectious disease specialist. "These vaccines save children's lives; parents interested in keeping their child alive should have them vaccinated," Dr. David Kimberlin, a University of Alabama at Birmingham professor of pediatrics, said in a university news release. "At any given time, all of these vaccine-preventable diseases are at most 18 hours away. For example, one of the few remaining places where polio circulates is Afghanistan, and U.S. troops return home from there daily; anyone exposed could inadvertently pass polio to a child." Kimberlin is also president-elect of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there ... Read more

Study: More Pre-Teens Get Vaccines When Middle Schools Require Them

Posted 7 May 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 7 – Pre-teens living in states that require vaccinations for incoming middle school students are more likely to be immunized than those in states without such requirements, a new study finds. Current vaccine guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that boys and girls aged 11 to 12 receive three immunizations or boosters: tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (TdaP); meningococcal conjugate; and three doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In 2008-2009, 32 states required TdaP and three required meningococcal conjugate. One state, Virginia, required HPV vaccination for girls during those years. About 80 percent of kids aged 13 to 17 received the recommended TdaP vaccine in states that required vaccination for middle school entry compared to 70 percent of kids in states that didn't require it. For meningococcal vaccine, those rates were ... Read more

Vaccinations Aren't Just for Kids

Posted 16 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 – Public health experts often focus immunization awareness efforts toward protecting children, and with good reason: Facing a potentially bewildering schedule of vaccinations for their young ones, parents usually need all the help they can get. But vaccinations aren't just kid stuff. Medical science is creating an increasing number of immunizations targeted at adults, to help them avoid life-threatening diseases in middle-age and opportunistic infections when they're older. "Immunization is a life-long issue that we need to pay a lot of attention to," said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. Some adult vaccinations are very well-known, like the annual shot that aims to prevent the spread of influenza. "You need an influenza shot every year," Benjamin said. "Part of that is because the virus changes every year, ... Read more

Adult Vaccinations Protect Children: Report

Posted 19 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Aug. 19 – Regular vaccinations for adults can help protect children, seniors and people with weakened immune systems, but few American adults get the recommended immunizations, experts say. A recent report from the non-profit Trust for America's Health found that less than one-third of adults in the United States get an annual flu shot and only 2 percent are vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. Adults should stay current on their vaccines for many reasons, according to Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the preventive medicine department at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tenn. Doing so not only protects adults against many diseases, it prevents them from transmitting those diseases to family members, infants and elders, bolstering public health in general. Getting the Tdap vaccine against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus is particularly ... Read more

Tetanus Still Diagnosed in U.S., Although It's Preventable

Posted 1 Apr 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, March 31 – While a tetanus shot can shield Americans from the potentially fatal infection, sporadic cases do still occur among those who went unvaccinated, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. Tetanus is a rare but potentially deadly disease caused by the toxin of Clostridium tetani bacteria, which is found in soil and animal excrement. Since 1947, reported cases of tetanus in the United States have fallen more than 95 percent, and tetanus deaths have decreased 99 percent, according to the study. Nevertheless, according to data from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, there were 233 cases of tetanus (lockjaw) reported in the United States between 2001 and 2008. The death rate was 13.2 percent in the 197 cases with known outcomes, the CDC said. The risk of death was highest among people older than 65, diabetics, and those who ... Read more

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