Those caring for children are often at their wits' end when it comes to knowing when to give which vaccine, what the side-effects of these vaccines are, what to do if one misses a vaccination appointment, and so on and so forth.
In this post, I am going to talk a little bit about vaccines, and expand the concept to include other important life-habits that work just like vaccination, but without the pain, when it comes to preventing disease.
When we talk about immunisation, we are talking about giving preventive vaccines to our loved ones to avoid the occurrence of diseases. The problem is that no vaccine is one hundred percent effective in preventing the occurrence of the disease it is supposed to prevent. However, many modern vaccines do come close enough to the ideal, in that, they are effective in more than 95% of those vaccinated.
Vaccines are of several kinds, but the most useful classification is to divide them into those that prevent life-threatening illnesses and those that prevent non-life-threatening diseases. The former category includes vaccines against major killers of the 20th Century and before such as poliomyelitis, measles, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough and tuberculosis. To this may be added the small pox vaccine, which is no longer given now as the disease has become "extinct", and the hepatitis B vaccine, though the last one kills the affected persons in just about 1-2% of the cases.
The latter category includes vaccines against different illnesses: these are Hepatitis A, Chicken Pox, the rotavirus, influenza viruses, and some others.
Then there are vaccines against illnesses that are geographically limited but serious illnesses nevertheless; many such vaccines are in the list of vaccines that need to be given to travellers within that country. These include the vaccines against Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever etc.
Next in the category of vaccines are simple preventive medicines that help prevent diseases like malaria. If you are travelling to a malaria-infested country like India, Bangladesh, or any tropical country in Africa or Asia, you should seek advice on taking medicines starting one week before entering that country and should continue ingesting these until 4 weeks after you have left that country.
Good hand washing, eating hygienic food and basic personal cleanliness are also "vaccines" that help prevent water and food-borne illnesses; in the same way, covering one's nose and mouth while among huge crowds is a simple preventive step to avoid air-borne diseases to some extent.
In this post, I am going to talk a little bit about vaccines, and expand the concept to include other important life-habits that work just like vaccination, but without the pain, when it comes to preventing disease.
When we talk about immunisation, we are talking about giving preventive vaccines to our loved ones to avoid the occurrence of diseases. The problem is that no vaccine is one hundred percent effective in preventing the occurrence of the disease it is supposed to prevent. However, many modern vaccines do come close enough to the ideal, in that, they are effective in more than 95% of those vaccinated.
Vaccines are of several kinds, but the most useful classification is to divide them into those that prevent life-threatening illnesses and those that prevent non-life-threatening diseases. The former category includes vaccines against major killers of the 20th Century and before such as poliomyelitis, measles, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough and tuberculosis. To this may be added the small pox vaccine, which is no longer given now as the disease has become "extinct", and the hepatitis B vaccine, though the last one kills the affected persons in just about 1-2% of the cases.
The latter category includes vaccines against different illnesses: these are Hepatitis A, Chicken Pox, the rotavirus, influenza viruses, and some others.
Then there are vaccines against illnesses that are geographically limited but serious illnesses nevertheless; many such vaccines are in the list of vaccines that need to be given to travellers within that country. These include the vaccines against Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever etc.
Next in the category of vaccines are simple preventive medicines that help prevent diseases like malaria. If you are travelling to a malaria-infested country like India, Bangladesh, or any tropical country in Africa or Asia, you should seek advice on taking medicines starting one week before entering that country and should continue ingesting these until 4 weeks after you have left that country.
Good hand washing, eating hygienic food and basic personal cleanliness are also "vaccines" that help prevent water and food-borne illnesses; in the same way, covering one's nose and mouth while among huge crowds is a simple preventive step to avoid air-borne diseases to some extent.
