In Texas, at least 90 cases of measles have been informed in recent weeks in the northwest of that state. Among those cases there are five people who say they have been vaccinated.
It is not known if those five cases were completely vaccinated. Whether you are seeing this from Texas or elsewhere, it is possible that you ask: should you seek to obtain a reinforcement for measles or other infectious diseases?
For measles, the short response is no, said Dr. William Schaffner, an expert in infectious diseases at the Medical Center of Vanderbilt University.
“The measles vaccine is one of our most extraordinarily successful vaccines,” said Schaffner, who was previously a medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “If you have been properly vaccinated in childhood, you don’t have to worry about [getting a booster]. “
That said, he added, “all vaccines are not identical. Some are better than others.” The protective elements of some routine children’s vaccines decrease over time, which means that reinforcements are recommended for all adults; For some adults with certain ailments or circumstances of life, other reinforcements can be recommended.
Next, infectious disease experts tell NBC News when and why some adults may need reinforcements of certain routine children’s vaccines.
Measles
Most vaccinated adults do not need measles reinforcement.
Since 1989, American advisory committees have recommended two doses of the measles vaccine, papers and rubella (MMR) for all children. The first dose is generally administered to babies between 12 and 15 months, and the second between the ages of 4 and 6.
“And if you do that, you are ready,” Schaffner said. “For life.”
If he was born before 1957, he is most likely that he was exposed to measles when he was a child and has natural immunity. In that case, no vaccination or reinforcement is needed, said Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic. In addition, if he was born after 1957 and has access to his vaccine records that show that he has both doses, he is ready, Sampathkumar said.
Even a dose offers sufficient protection for most adults, according to centers for disease control and prevention.
“The problem is that many of us … We do not know with certainty whether we receive vaccines or not, and we have no one to ask,” said Sampathkumar. In the seventies and 80s, most schools had regulations that required vaccines, he said, so that offers a track.
In an outbreak, however, recommendations can change for some people.
If you know that you received both doses of the MMR vaccine, there are no recommendations for a third dose, even in an outbreak, according to CDC. If you know that you only received a dose, CDC recommends listening to your local public health department, which you can recommend a second dose for adults.
“The conclusion is that if you do not know and live in areas where measles is spreading, then you could consider yourself vaccinated,” said Sampathkumar.
For some people in special circumstances (hospital workers in high -risk environments, people who are or live with someone who is immunocompromised or organ transplant candidates, may make sense to take a title test, which measures the level of antibodies in the Blood. He is affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic.
But what about those five people in Texas, who say they were vaccinated and, nevertheless, contract measles anyway?
Innovative cases may occur, but “it is quite rare,” said Dr. Ryan Maves, an expert in infectious diseases at the School of Medicine of Wake Forest University. These cases tend to be softer, with a faster recovery time and a lower risk of serious complications such as pneumonia compared to measles cases in unaccoured people, Maves said.
Measles is especially worrying for public health experts, said Maves, because it can cause what has been called “immune amnesia.”
“The protection of previous infections can often be removed by measles that affects its B cells, the type of white blood cells that are involved in the production of immune memory: antibodies against the things it has been exposed before, Like chickenpox, such as chickenpox, for example, “said Maves.
“You can actually eliminate your immune memory,” he said.
Tetanus
Most adults should obtain a tetanus reinforcement every 10 years, said Maves.
The tetanus vaccine is included in a combined vaccine that also protects against diphtheria and whore (more commonly known as the Raine cough). The shot for young children is called DTAP, and the shot for children and older adults is called TDAP. (TDAP contains less diphtheria protein and people’s cough than DTAP).
“You get your main series when you’re little Little, ”said Aguilar.
The current recommendations are for five doses of DTAP during childhood, at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15 months and 4 to 6 years. The TDAP vaccine is recommended for preteens (from 11 to 12 years old), and every 10 years after that.
“Obviously, the tetanus part is in case we get injured: we have a sharp wound, we step on a nail,” said Maves.
Tetanus is a potentially deadly bacterial infection that can enter the body through a scraping or cut and cause serious and painful muscle spasms, even in the neck and jaw, so it is commonly called Lockjaw.
But, again, it is not always so easy to monitor its vaccination records as an adult. “If an adult needs a tetanus reinforcement, and we do not know if it has had a TDAP, it is totally safe and reasonable to give them a reinforcement,” said Aguilar.
RACE TOS (RACE TOS)
Like tetanus taking, because they are part of the same combined vaccine, the current recommendation for adults is to obtain a reinforcement of the Raine cough every 10 years.
Pending cough is a very contagious disease, which easily spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and respiratory disease rates have increased in recent decades, according to CDC.
That is partly due to the lowest vaccination rates, Maves said. Keeping up to date with its reinforcement for the Railway is especially important, because protection decreases over time, experts in infectious diseases say.
This was not always the case. In 1991, the Cold Diphthe-Tétananos (DTAP) vaccine had a license in the United States. But until the 1990s, vaccines against whole cells of entire cells were administered. “That means that they took the entire whor cough cell and killed it, but you are still obtaining all the parts of that bacterial cell,” Maves explained. The acellular whore cough vaccine, in contrast, does not contain entire bacterial cells; Instead, it has proteins that trigger an immune response, he said.
The whole cell vaccine lasted longer, but also had more side effects, such as high fevers. “The children would feel a bit blah later,” Maves said. “High fevers were not unusual at that time, and in really young children, high fevers attract a lot of attention, and in rare cases they can cause seizures.”
The acellular vaccine is still an effective vaccine. “It doesn’t cause those side effects, but it doesn’t last so long,” said Maves. “That is compensation.”
If you know someone who has recently had a baby, you may have asked you to get a TDAP reinforcement. This is because newborns are running the greatest risk of Raine cough. Pregnant women receive reinforcements for TDAP around 27 to 36 weeks to protect their baby rough coughing until babies can receive their own opportunity for two months.
“It is recommended that not only the mother and father and all the children of the family are vaccinated, but any person, aunt Susie, grandparents, neighbors in the street, who wants to enter and see the new baby and approach, that they should not” It can be allowed in the house unless they are updated with their TDAP, “said Schaffner. By” updated “, it means in the last 10 years, but ideally in the last five.
Meningitis
Most adults do not need a reinforcement for meningitis. But there are exceptions, experts say.
Most people should receive their first meningitis at 11 or 12, and a second at 16, according to the recommendations of the CDC. “We vaccinate people against adolescence in advance of the university or the military,” said Maves. “Actually, where [the disease] Esprads is in congregated environments: university bedrooms, military barracks, places like that. “
The protection against the vaccine lasts about five years, added Maves, so a reinforcement is generally needed. “For the moment they wear that vaccine, you are out of that risk period,” he said. It is likely that he has graduated from the university or moved the bedrooms, in other words.
Certain adults may need a reinforcement, however, said Maves. The spleen is an important organ to combat meningitis, so people with lymphoma or falciform cell disease may need reinforcement. The same goes for someone who lives without a spleen due to a traumatic injury such as a car accident. People with diseases that affect their immune system, such as HIV, may also require reinforcements.
Someone who travels to the so -called “meningitis belt” of sub -Saharan Africa, which routinely experiences epidemics of the disease, will also need a reinforcement before going, added Aguilar.
VPV
There is no data to support the need for HPV reinforcement for adults, Maves said.
The CDC recommends two doses for most people, with the first shot given before they turn 15 and the second administrated from six to 12 months after that. Protects against nine strains of human papilloma, which is the main cause of cervical cancer.
“Actually prevents cancer, which is quite good,” said Aguilar. The HPV vaccine was first recommended in 2006 for teenagers. A recent study showed a strong drop in cervical cancer mortality among women under 25, the first age group was widely vaccinated against HPV.
“Although real attention is in cervical cancer, HPV causes head and neck cancer,” Maves said. “It could cause male genital cancers, it can cause anal cancer. So, although the highest risk group is certainly women … barically it benefits everyone. “
But what happens if you are too old to have obtained the HPV vaccine?
There is no recommendation for adults over 26 years old, although adults up to 46 can argue with their medical care provider if they make sense that the opportunity can obtain. The vaccine is more effective before HPV is exposed, a common sexually transmitted infection. Most sexually active adults will have been exposed to HPV, according to CDC.
“If you did not understand when I was a child and you are over 30 or 40 years old, it is reasonable at least to consider obtaining [the HPV vaccine] How to catch up, ”said Maves. “It is difficult to demonstrate any benefit once you have spent 40 years.”
