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Vaccinations Archive
Articles
On call: Shingles vaccination
The Zostavax vaccine is safe for use by healthy adults to prevent shingles, a painful condition caused by previous infection with the chicken pox virus. It also helps prevents persistent shingles pain, known as post-herpetic neuralgia.
Why you still need pertussis vaccination
Pertussis rates are rising in all age groups. An Australian study found that older adults with pertussis are more likely to need hospitalization, which underscores the need for older adults to get vaccinated.
Is the new pneumonia vaccine better?
Q. I heard there is a new pneumonia shot. Is it better than the old one?
A. The older pneumonia shot is the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. It's recommended for all men over age 65 and anyone with certain medical conditions, such as lung disease, diabetes, heart disease, and problems with the immune system. The vaccine protects against 23 kinds of pneumococcus, which is the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia. Vaccination might not prevent you from ever getting pneumonia, but it could keep you out of the hospital and prevent the infection from spreading to your brain or bloodstream.
What you need to know about: vaccines
Now that flu season is here you may be scheduling your annual vaccination against influenza. But this can also be a good time see if all of your shots are up to date. It's important, since immunization to disease doesn't last a lifetime.
"Pretty much everything gets weaker as we age—our joints, heart, lungs, kidneys, brain. The same thing happens to our immune system," explains Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Ask the doctor: Do I still need vaccines?
Older people still need immunizations, including vaccines against pneumonia; influenza; tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (every 10 years); and possibly shingles.
Keeping up with your vaccinations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revises its immunization guidelines every year, and there are some changes for 2011, in particular ones that apply to people at middle age or older.
The shingles vaccine
For people who have had shingles, the question of whether or not to get the vaccine to prevent a recurrence is not easily answered.
New immunizations for adults
For many men, vaccinations are kids' stuff. Indeed, most immunizations are designed for children, and most new vaccines are headed for pediatric offices and clinics; the newly approved rotavirus vaccine, which will prevent many cases of childhood diarrhea, is an example. But infections strike people of all ages, and immunizations are important for adults, too.
Aside from travelers and people with special needs and vulnerabilities, healthy adults have had only three vaccines to keep track of: For everyone over 50, a flu shot every fall; for everyone at age 65, a pneumococcal pneumonia shot; and for all of us, a tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster every 10 years. But two new vaccines have joined the list.
Recent Blog Articles
Have you exfoliated lately?
Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health
PTSD: How is treatment changing?
Virtual mental health care visits: Making them work for you
How healthy is sugar alcohol?
A bird flu primer: What to know and do
New urine test may help some men with elevated PSA avoid biopsy
Dupuytren's contracture of the hand
Why play? Early games build bonds and brain
Moving from couch to 5K
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