Smart Living: Preventative care with vaccinations
By: Ivanhoe Broadcast News
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It’s much easier to prevent a disease than to treat it, which is why vaccines are key to public health. They control many infectious diseases that were once very common, including polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, rubella, mumps, tetanus and influenza.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released survey results indicating that only two percent of Americans under 64 years of age have received adult vaccines.
Vaccinations are one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to maintain an optimum level of health and wellness. According to CareGiversNW.com, adults should consider receiving the following vaccination shots:
• Shingles - disease affecting adults over age 60 who have had chicken pox.
• Pneumonia - accounts for more than 40,000 U.S. deaths each year.
• Tetanus Booster - tetanus can advance to "lockjaw" or muscle paralysis, which can lead to death.
• HPV - can cause genital warts and cancer.
• Flu Shot - an annual shot is necessary because the virus continues to change.
Vaccines, usually ones that contain live viruses, should not be used or should be delayed in people with certain conditions. Those conditions include a weakened immune system (due to a disorder, such as AIDS, or to drugs that suppress the immune system), pregnancy, or some progressive nervous system disorders. (Source: www.vaccines.org)
According to the New York Online Access to Health website, side effects include soreness at the injection site. Serious side effects are rare but include high fever, crying, seizures and severe allergic reaction.
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