1. The recent outbreak of Hepatitis A linked to frozen berries has reached 79 people. However, according to Seattle Mama Doc, Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, few kids are being infected since there is a ‘vaccine for that’!

2. A bold new campaign from the Vermont Department of Health called “It’s OK to Ask” targets vaccine hesitancy in a very straight forward manner to try to “transform parental hesitance into confidence,” according to an interview on Shot of Prevention with the department’s communication director, Nancy Erikson.

3. On the NIH Director’s Blog, you can learn about the use of ferrets in the study of H7N9, the latest flu virus of concern. Since ferrets have a respiratory system that is biologically similar to humans, they are well suited to study human susceptibility to the virus.

4. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar is the new spokesperson for the March of Dimes’ campaign “Sounds of Pertussis.” The campaign has also launched a new Facebook campaign called “The Breathing Room” to help parents encourage family and friends to get the adult pertussis vaccine.

5. According to a new study on influenza published recently in Vaccine, focusing on vaccinating children and young adults could help break the transmission cycle.

Share any relevant news of interest with us. To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines), like us on Facebook, and join the NFID Linkedin Group.

Douglas’ inverview with The Guardian may have caught some by surprise, but it certainly brought to light the importance of both men and women being vaccinated against HPV. As reported in The New York Times, the HPV vaccine prevents various types of cancer, including many oral cancers.

In the 1980s, only a small number of throat cancers were linked to HPV infection. Historically, patients who developed the disease were in their 70s and were heavy smokers and drinkers.

Now, about 70 percent of all throat cancers are caused by HPV, up from roughly 15 percent three decades ago. Patients are now more frequently middle-aged husbands and fathers who are economically well off, nonsmokers and not particularly heavy drinkers. Men are three times more likely to be diagnosed than women with HPV-related throat cancer.

There are many strains of HPV, and the virus is so common that at some point most sexually active adults are exposed to it. A majority of people fight off the infection and do not develop symptoms. But in a very small number of people chronic infection causes oropharyngeal cancers near the base of the tongue and the area just behind the mouth.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends the HPV vaccine for all girls age 9-26  years and boys age 9-21 years. Unfortunately, immunization rates for completion of this 3-part vaccine series remain dismally low. Read more about HPV and the vaccine to prevent it at: http://nfid.org/idinfo/HPV.

What steps can and should be taken to increase HPV vaccination rates in the US?

To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines), like us on Facebook, and join the NFID Linkedin Group.

Reblogged from Shot of Prevention:

I’m a glass-half-full kind of person.  That’s why it’s frustrating to hear people reject vaccines on account of the fact that they aren’t “perfect”.

The fact remains that nothing (as far as I know) is perfect.  And when it comes to vaccines, there will always be those who argue that they aren’t worth getting if they aren’t 100% guaranteed safe or effective.

Read more… 832 more words

The live, attenuated mumps vaccine used today in the United States was first licensed in 1967 and then used in the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which was licensed in 1971. To celebrate this historic event in public health, The New York Times wrote a great piece on the history of what is now the MMR vaccine.

Almost 50 years ago, mumps was a disease that could leave a child deaf or otherwise permanently impaired. Thanks to Dr. Hilleman, mumps, along with measles and rubella, is now largely non-existent in the US. However, recent outbreaks of measles (and mumps in 2012) highlight the importance of making sure all children receive the MMR vaccine, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Read more about the mumps and the vaccine available to prevent it on NFID’s website and CDC’s website.

To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines), like us on Facebook, and join the NFID Linkedin Group.

First is the “old”…North Carolina is currently experiencing an outbreak of measles. The count is now up to 19 affected in several different counties. The outbreak has been traced to an unvaccinated individual who recently retruned from India, highlighting the fact that infectious diseases know no borders. This outbreak has prompted the state to offer a free clinic where residents can get am MMR vaccine. A licensed vaccine to prevent measles first became available in 1963, with an improved vaccine in 1968. Vaccines for the mumps and rubella (German measles) became available in 1967 and 1969, respectively. The three vaccines (for mumps, measles, and rubella) were combined in 1971 to become the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. This outbreak comes just a few weeks after a much larger outbreak in Wales, clearly demonstrating that this ‘old’ disease is unfortunately, still a current public health concern.

As for “new”, recent outbreaks of H7N9 avian flu have prompted scientists to quickly develop a comprehensive vaccine agains the virulent strain of the virus. At the recent NFID Annual Conference on Vaccine Research, Dr. Kathleen M. Neuzil from Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) spoke with Infectious Disease News regarding the new influenza strain. You can watch the full interview here.

Both of these situations remind us that both the past and the future are ever-present in the vaccine world.

To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines) and use the hashtag #ACVR.

NFID Annual Conference on Vaccine Research: Focus on Eradication
April 23, 2013
Karie Youngdahl

NFID Conference: Challenges of Maternal Immunization
April 25, 2013
Karie Youngdahl

In February 2013, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) updated the Tdap vaccine recommendations for pregnant women. NFID had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Mark H. Sawyer from the University of California San Diego about the updated recommendations. He discusses the importance of the vaccine, a strategy to communicate with vaccine-hesitant pregnant women, and the need for those surrounding newborns to also be vaccinated.

To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines) and use the hashtag #ACVR.

To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines) and use the hashtag #ACVR.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a disease that could be prevented with a safe and effective vaccine. Millions more children survive, but are left severely disabled. Vaccines have the power not only to save, but  also transform lives by protecting against disease – giving children a chance  to grow up healthy, go to school, and improve their lives. Vaccination campaigns sometimes provide the only contact with healthcare services that children receive in their early years of life.

Immunization is one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions—it currently averts an estimated 2 to 3  million deaths every year in all age groups from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles.

Immunization is a global health priority at CDC focusing on polio eradication, reducing measles deaths, and strengthening immunization systems. CDC works closely with a wide variety of partners in more than 60  countries to vaccinate children and provide technical assistance to ministries  of health to strengthen and expand countries’ abilities to create, carry out,  and evaluate their national immunization programs.

Too few people realize that the health of individuals in the US and the health of people around the world are inextricably linked. Viruses don’t respect borders, so they travel easily within countries and across continents. By helping to stop vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) globally, CDC is also  helping to protect people in the United States against importations of VPDs from other countries.

For example, in 2011, there were 220 reported cases of  measles in the US—200 of the 220 cases were brought into the US  from other countries with measles outbreaks.

The most effective and least expensive way to protect ourselves from diseases and other health threats that begin overseas is to stop them before they spread to our shores. CDC works to protect individuals from disease both in the United States and overseas. CDC employees detect and control outbreaks at their source, saving lives and reducing healthcare costs. CDC’s global health activities protect indivuals at home and save lives abroad and create goodwill with global neighbors.

World  Health Organization’s World Immunization Week

To join the conversation, follow us on Twitter (@nfidvaccines) and use the hashtag #NIIW.

Reblogged from Shot of Prevention: