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Top 7 Vaccines: Essential For Adults — And Vital To Public Health

Top 7 Vaccines: Essential For Adults — And Vital To Public Health

If you think immunization shots are just for kids, think again.  The protection you receive against some childhood illnesses can wear off over time, and your age, job, lifestyle, and underlying health problems can put you at risk for other diseases that can be prevented or ameliorated with a vaccine. In addition, adults need to be immunized so they don’t spread some very serious diseases.

It should go without saying that you must discuss any and all of your health needs with your own doctor, but we have compiled a list of adult-vaccine guidelines as a reminder.  It’s also a good idea to keep a record of your immunizations in one central place – luckily, there are many, many apps for that.

Let’s get one notion out of the way first: There is absolutely no scientific evidence that vaccines cause chronic illnesses. On the contrary, in places where vaccination rates have been falling recently, preventable diseases once under control thanks to immunization are now on the increase.   Immunizations save lives and have been proven safe and effective for generations.

All Adults

The flu (influenza) is not just a bad cold, but a virus that can stop you in your tracks in its mild forms, and kill you in its most virulent. Now that winter–  and flu season — are here, it’s important to get vaccinated. And yes, you need to do that every year – each year’s flu strains are different, and the previous year’s immunization will not offer maximum protection for the current year. This vaccine is especially important for adults over 60, people with chronic health conditions, and pregnant women.

It’s likely that you received a DTP vaccine as a child. This vaccine protects you against two diseases we don’t hear much about in the developed world (tetanus and diphtheria), and one, whooping cough (pertussis) which is making a comeback because some people have gotten lax about vaccinating their children. In addition, every adult should be getting a DT (diphtheria and tetanus) booster every ten years, as the protective effects wear off.

Which Flu Vaccine?

There are different types of flu shots, and one vaccine that’s not a shot at all, but although they all protect against the flu, they’re not all the same.

The standard flu vaccine is made of dead virus. Although it can’t give you a case of the flu, some people may react with some minor flu-like symptoms.  There’s also an enhanced vaccine for people with weakened immune systems, and those over the age of 65.

FluMist, an alternative vaccine made from live virus, is sprayed into your nostrils just like any other nasal spray. But this option is not for everyone and is recommended only for otherwise healthy children and adults between the ages of 2 and 49. It is  not recommended for pregnant women.

Young Adults 19 – 26

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a common virus that is spread through sexual contact, and for the most part you won’t know that you have it or that you have been exposed because it has no symptoms. HPV is a nasty group of about 40 bugs that can cause cervical cancer in women, and anal cancers and genital warts in both sexes. The HPV vaccine, given in three doses, prevents the most common cervical cancers and genital warts. You should get vaccinated if you are a woman up to the age of 26, a man up to the age of 21, and a man between the ages of 22 and 26 if you have anal sex with other men.

Adults Over 60

As we age we become more susceptible to any number of health problems, partially because our immune systems weaken as we get older.

One of those problems is a condition known as shingles, resulting from exactly the same virus (herpes zoster) that causes chicken pox in children. If you had chicken pox as a child — and plenty of baby boomers did — you’re at risk for shingles because the virus never leaves your body and merely stays dormant. So if you’re over 60, talk to your doctor. Even if you do get shingles, chances are it will be a milder case if you’ve had the vaccine.

Older adults also need Pneumococcal vaccines, which protect against pneumococcal disease, including infections in the lungs and bloodstream. They’re also recommended for adults younger than 65 years who have certain chronic health conditions.

 Vaccines If You Have An Underlying Health Condition

According to the Centers for Disease Control CDC), anyone with the following conditions should speak to their doctor about appropriate vaccinations.

Pregnant Women

Women who are pregnant should get a Tdap vaccine once between the 27th and 36th week of each pregnancy. They should also get the seasonal flu vaccine.  Your doctor will tell you if you need other vaccines, but a good set of guidelines can be found at Vaccines for Pregnant Women.

Healthcare Workers

Those who work in health care find themselves exposed to very serious and sometimes deadly diseases. The good news is that there are vaccinations to prevent you from getting some of them.

In addition to the flu and Tdap vaccines, healthcare workers should also be vaccinated against

  • Hepatitis B
  • Measles
  • Mumps
  • Rubella
  • Chicken Pox
  • Meningitis

International Travelers

Those of us who live in the United States can sometimes forget that we are relatively free of some of the most deadly diseases that plague other parts of the world, especially less developed and tropical countries. The CDC provides standard guidelines about immunizations you may need when you travel, as does the International Society of Travel Medicine and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. If you’re going to places where Yellow Fever is present, the CDC has guidelines for protecting against that illness too.

Photo: St. Louis Today

New U.S. Therapy Wipes Out Cervical Cancer In Two Women

New U.S. Therapy Wipes Out Cervical Cancer In Two Women

Bethesda (United States) (AFP) – Aricca Wallace knew she was nearly out of time.

For more than three years, she had suffered cramping and irregular bleeding, which her doctor thought was a side effect of her birth control implant, known as an intrauterine device, or IUD.

Her annual Pap smears were always normal, so no one suspected cancer.

Except it was cancer, and by the time the 34-year-old mother of two had the IUD removed and was finally diagnosed, her tumors had reached stage three and the disease was spreading through the lymph nodes in her abdomen and chest.

“I was told by a specialist that there wasn’t any chemo that could kill it,” Wallace told AFP. “And that I’d be gone in a year.”

That was in February 2012. A few months later, Wallace’s doctor told her about an immunotherapy trial at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a research hospital just outside the U.S. capital.

Wallace enrolled. Doctors removed one of her tumors and collected some of the immune cells that were surrounding it. They selected specific T-cells that would attack human papillomavirus.

HPV is a common sexually transmitted disease, and most adults get it at some point in their lives. While HPV is often harmless, some strains can cause genital warts or lead to cancers of the cervix, anus, head, neck and throat.

Some 70 percent of cervical cancers are caused by HPV types 16 and 18.

The idea behind HPV-targeted adoptive T-cell therapy is to boost the body’s immune response to HPV in the tumors.

Wallace first endured a week-long regimen of strong chemotherapy to knock out her immune system. Then came the infusion, which aimed to rebuild her defenses with more than 100 billion of her lab-grown T-cells that targeted the tumors.

After that, she was given two doses of aldesleukin, which helps the immune cells grow.

The treatment can lead to serious side effects like bleeding, vomiting, low blood pressure, fluid retention, confusion, fever and infection.

“It was the worst fever I ever had,” recalled Wallace.

But it worked. Her tumors grew steadily smaller. Four months after the infusion, all the tumors were gone.

On May 29, Wallace visited the NIH Clinical Center again for scans, which showed no disease, marking 22 months since the start of her experimental treatment.

“It is a miracle, honestly,” said Wallace, now 37.

Immunotherapy is a promising field that has shown some early successes against the deadly skin cancer melanoma and a handful of other cancers.

Wallace is the first person with cervical cancer on whom this novel approach has worked.

A second U.S. woman has also seen her metastatic cervical cancer disappear completely and is still disease-free one year later.

But they are just two of nine patients in total. A third woman responded for a short time, but then her cancer returned. The treatment did not help the other six women in the study.

“With only nine patients, we can’t even say with any reliability how well it works,” said Christian Hinrichs, Assistant Clinical Investigator at the National Cancer Institute.

“All we know is that it can work,” added Hinrichs, who presented his research to reporters on Monday at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

The technique is based on a state-of-the-art personalized medicine approach developed by his boss, Steven Rosenberg at the National Cancer Institute, to expand tumor infiltrating lymphocytes against metastatic melanoma.

Hundreds of cancer patients have been treated with some kind of adoptive T-cell therapy, or ACT, but success rates have varied widely.

Some 40 percent of patients with metastatic melanoma who underwent the process are showing no signs of cancer after seven years, according to research published late in 2013.

The technique is still a long way from becoming everyday practice in medicine, and researchers have yet to figure out why it works in some but not in others.

“With the refinement of adoptive T-cell therapy and reduction of potential significant side effects, this can offer hope for improvement of survival for patients with advanced cervical cancers,” said Linus Chang, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Chang was not involved in the study.

Cervical cancer infects some 530,000 women each year and kills more than 270,000 around the globe, with most deaths occurring in the developing world, according to the World Health Organization.

Despite the rapid and complete responses that two of his patients have seen, Hinrichs said it is far too early to declare them cured.

But Wallace said she does not care about the terminology.

“You can’t argue with the scans,” she told AFP.

“It’s not there and I feel good. I don’t have to hear the word ‘cure.'”

 Photo: Saul Loeb via AFP