ideal time for annual health care visits and immunization updates. If you fi nd keeping track of your children’s immunization status overwhelming, you can talk to your health care provider about your family’s vaccines at these visits. Parents of school- age children are often surprised to fi nd they are behind on their vaccinations. If your kids are 9 to 18 years or older, chances are you need to get their immu- nizations updated.
The need for extra vigilance with immunizations has never been greater. Immunization-preventable diseases such as pertussis (whoop- ing cough), meningococcal meningitis and measles are rearing their ugly heads in our own communities. In the past decade, whooping cough cases have dramatically risen in the U.S. In fact, there were 48,277 cases of whooping cough in 2012, the highest number of cases since 1955. One in 20 Americans has been infected with the hepatitis B virus, and those who travel to other countries are at higher risk for hepatitis A infection. During 2013 the number of measles cases in the U.S. doubled. In 2014 there have already been documented measles cases in California, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Texas, Washington, New York, Massachusetts and Oregon. In 2010 an outbreak of meningococcal menin- gitis in an elementary school infected and hospitalized fi ve children, two of whom later died.
Ready, Set, Grow
The rise in immunization-preventable diseases can be attributed to decreasing immunization rates. Even if your kids were fully immunized at some point, it’s important to ensure their protection with boosters at the appropriate times. A table showing the immunizations your school-age child may need can be found at:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/who/teens/ downloads/parent-version-schedule- 7-18yrs.pdf.
This summer is an excellent time to ask your health care provider about the fol- lowing immunizations: Tdap, Hep B, Hep A, HPV, MMR, Varicella and Menactra.
Tdap, DTap and Td With so many Ts and Ds these acronyms can be confusing, as they seem so similar. All three immunizations include a T for tet- anus and a D for diphtheria. The P in DTaP and Tdap stands for pertussis (whooping cough). DTaP immunization is approved for children younger than seven years old. Tdap, on the other hand, is approved for children older than seven years old. Td is simply a booster given every ten years and covers tetanus and diphtheria. Each disease is potentially fatal. Pertussis is a respiratory disease spread through coughing, sneezing and respiratory droplets. This disease causes violent, irrepressible coughing and extreme diffi culty to take a breath in the midst of coughing intervals. This often leads to hospitalization and, in the worst cases, death. Unfortunately, infants are the most vulnerable to pertussis because their airways are so much smaller than older children, teens and adults. Sadly, pertussis is most commonly spread to infants from parents, grandparents or
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