That's Fit

Vaccinations aren't only for kids. In fact, CNN has a list of seven vaccinations adults need to seriously consider. For instance, you may have been vaccinated for whooping cough as a child, but experts say the bacterial infection is back, due to immunity of those vaccinated in the 70s wearing off. Doctors are recommending a booster for adults.

Other shots you might want to talk to your doctor about:

• chicken pox, if you've never had the illness
• shingles, approved for people over 60, but may be given to people over 50
• MMR, especially if you were born between 1957 and 1967
• traveler's diseases if you're taking a trip (influenza, typhoid, meningitis, and yellow fever, for instance)
  
• hepatitis B
  
  

If you vaccinate, talk to your doctor to see if any of these shots are appropriate for you.

Four people in the Milwaukee area are confirmed to have contracted measles. A 37-year-old man and three children under 2 years old have been infected and are currently contained to minimize the spread of the disease. Measles is a highly infectious disease that's spread through respiration.

Symptoms include a cough, fever, runny nose, and red eyes. While the symptoms themselves aren't necessarily serious, the rapid spread of the disease to those who aren't protected is a cause for concern. In the US the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella) is administered before 18 months of age. But in recent years, parents have voiced concerns over a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The CDC maintains that the MMR vaccine is safe.

One of the Milwaukee measles patients had contact with up to 150 people prior to being contained, so area officials are concerned about a possible outbreak. As a precaution, city officials offered free vaccinations to citizens. A Milwaukee health department representative said that one immunization shot is 95% effective.

In the past, the CDC recommended the flu shot only for children under the age of five and for kids with certain chronic conditions. But as of 2009, the CDC is hoping that pediatricians will make the annual flu shot part of the yearly standard of care for all children under the age of 18.

Though the recommendations are being made to keep children healthy, in school, and to reduce the number of doctor and hospital visits, experts anticipate a secondary benefit. If schoolchildren can avoid the flu, then their parents and grandparents are likely to be healthier as well. The shots won't be mandated, just heavily encouraged. It's not clear yet, however, that health officials will be ready by 2009 to vaccinate that many children.

My older daughter was born during flu season, and her pediatrician recommended that any adults that cared for her on a regular basis get their flu shots to protect her. This recommendation seems to be the flip side of that. By vaccinating children, the CDC hopes to protect the elderly and to slow the stop of the flu in general.

No one likes to get a shot, but new parents are often especially reluctant to see their new little bundle of joy painfully poked. Fortunately, pediatric health experts are looking at new ways to help infants cope with the pain. A recent study found that giving a weak sugar water solution a few minutes before the shot is administered helped reduce infants' post-shot pain by nearly 80%.

Sugar is known to release feel-good chemicals in the body, so researchers theorize that a little sugar ahead of the shot helps infants better cope with the pain. Other solutions include swaddling, kangaroo care, topical pain relief, and pacifiers.

Although the media constantly covers vaccinations for kids, it's been a long time since I read that adults weren't rolling up their sleeves to ensure they were getting the most timely and appropriate shots at the local physician.

The Centers for Disease Control said this week that costs may be a factor in why a lack of American adults are lining up for vaccination shots.

Everything from preventing shingles, whopping cough and cervical cancer are found in standard vaccinations -- many adults just aren't getting them. Is this another failing of the U.S. health care system or are adults just not justifying the need for these shots?

When a survey finds that many adults don't even know which diseases they could prevent with a simple vaccination shot (except for the flu), then perhaps a lack of education is at fault here. Have you been asked by your doctor to get a vaccination shot in the last year?

The HPV vaccine is making headlines again, this time because it's causing girls to faint. Some theorize that it's the pain of the shot causing girls to pass out. The HPV shot is turning out to be one of the more painful vaccinations, not just from the pick of the needle, but also from the burn of the vaccine going in.

I'll admit that when I first read this headline, I thought "Oh, come on." I was concerned that because this is a shot for girls and young women, they felt safe assuming that the fainting stems from an emotional reaction, and I thought that was unfair. But it turns out that they already know that teens do faint more often when faced with a needle, and because the HPV vaccine is a three-shot process, it makes sense that it could cause a rise in the incidence of fainting. I just hope that they rule out physical reactions before chalking it up to fear and nervousness alone.

My girls are still young enough that I have some time to wait and watch what develops with the HPV vaccine. If you have older daughters, or if you're a young woman yourself...what do you think about this sometimes controversial vaccine?

After considering all angles (yeah, right) New Jersey said this past Friday that it would require flu shots for all preschool-age children. Nothing like choice for parents, huh?

New Jersey becomes the first state to mandate flu shots for young kids, which does give those youngsters with still-developing immune systems protection from the flu. Or does it?

Required vaccinations have been fiercely debated from natural health enthusiasts who believe a proper diet and supplementation are the best tools to ward off common virus infections.

Do you agree with New Jersey's new decision?

It would be quite frustrating to hear that the flu shot you received recently contained bad vaccines and you needed another shot. That's precisely what is happening in the U.S., as a new report from the CDC says that thousands of regular vaccinations are ruined annually due to poor refrigeration.

The range of temperatures many vaccines receive renders them invalid, unbeknown to the recipient or the supplier. Nice quality control we have there, eh?

Understrength vaccines are only one problem from this situation -- as dud vaccines don't adequately protect those who receive shots and doses -- but it makes for quite a bit of unneeded waste every year, to the tune of $20 million or more.

A division of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released a new recommended immunization schedule for U.S. adults as as last week, according to a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The new guidelines for 2007-2008 apply to U.S. adults only and call for many changes from last year's guidelines. Some of the highlights are below:

• Chicenpox vaccination is recommended for all adults with no apparent immunity to the virus.
• Shingles vaccination is advised for all adults 60 years of age and older, regardless of whether they have had a prior shingles episode.
  

Another interesting change is the suggestion to use a vaccine shown to prevent the virus-caused cervical cancer for along with a whopping cough vaccination for adults. Additionally, a second dose of mumps vaccine is suggested for adults working in a health care facility.

A new study has poked the ongoing debate on whether the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal causes neurological disorders in some children. The biggest condition that comes up regularly is autism, although many experts have now stated that vaccinations containing thimerosal have no effect on potential autism.

The latest study comes from the federal government in an attempt to reassure parents about the safety of vaccination shots given to their kids.

But, this study was different -- it concentrated on neurological disorders, but did not include autism at all. However, a federal study that will look at autism causes is due soon, according to federal health authorities. In this most recent study, there was no clear link between between early exposure to the preservative thimerosal and any brain functions in kids aged 7 to 10.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) proudly stated that immunization rates for U.S. children remained above record highs. the statement did chastise teenagers though, as that age group seemed to be behind the younger kids in getting all the suggested immunization shots and so forth.

The data used by the CDC was for 2006, with age ranges covered including kids aged 19-35 months and teenagers from 13 to 17 years of age. The first group saw a 77 percent response rate for immunizations that target 10 popular diseases.

The goal of the U.S. Government states that a 90 percent participation rate is requested within three years (2010), so there is still some work to do. So far, though more than a three-quarter participation rate means that parents are paying attention to the importance of childhood immunizations.

Needles? Injections? Vaccinations? Er, no way. But with school starting in a few weeks (and my youngest heading to kindergarten), I've had nothing else on my mind.

Unfortunately, like most children, mine hates shots -- so what's a mom (or dad) to do?

Well, when infants get shots perhaps the most important thing you can do is stay calm, cool and collected. Not always easy, I know. Babies can't talk, but they do sense fear and anxiety, especially in their parents. So if you feel yourself becoming anxious, try and take deep breaths to relax your muscles.

If that's not working, here are a few other strategies that may work:

If you're a parent of a young child, you probably let out a sigh of relief when those infant immunizations were over. Boosters return at age 4, and many parents think that they've seen the last of those shots, but a new campaign put out by the CDC was created to remind parents that preteen kids need vaccinations too. The campaign, called Preteen Vaccine, encourages parents to get their kids in for a well child visit and to make sure they're all caught up on shots. Booster shots are recommended for tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough and new shots can be given that protect against meningitis and cervical cancer. It's also a good time to make sure older vaccinations are complete and to have that back-to-school check up at the same time.

April 21 through 28 (yep, that's this week) is National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW). The U.S. HHS Dept and the CDC are coming together along with hundreds of communities across the country to support and educate regarding getting infant and childhood vaccinations.

Sadly, as many as 20% of American children are not up to date on vaccinations at age 2. That's a huge number, especially considering that enough unpreventable and uncurable diseases and threats exist against a child's health without putting them at unnecessary risk for additional avoidable illnesses.

This week's official theme, per the NIIW:
"Love them. Protect them. Immunize them."