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Show Pneumonia Vaccine Offers Victims Hope SALT LAKE CITY Each year anywhere from 200.000 to one million people in the United Un-ited States contract some form of pneumonia. Nearly 50.000 of these victims die with the majority of deaths being attri-buted attri-buted to pneumococcal pneumonia. "WHAT'S particularly unfortunate un-fortunate aboui ihee uealhs is that many of them could have been prevented by a vaccine which is available almost anywhere any-where in the nation." explains Dr. Jay A. Jacobson, staff member of the LDS Hospital Department of Infectious Diseases. Dis-eases. This product, called polyvalent polyva-lent penumococcal vaccine, has been available since February Feb-ruary 1978. Yet during the past two years only a relatively small number of potential victims vic-tims have been immunized, says Dr. Jacobson. ONE significant reason for the current lack of interest in the vaccine. Dr. Jacobson notes, is the belief many people peo-ple have that pneumonia is no longer a serious health problem. prob-lem. Yet government statistics show the disease was the fifth leading cause of deaths in the U.S. in 1976. ,., Another factor in the low number of vaccines being given is while pneumococcal pneumonia can strike children and young adults, most pneumonia-related deaths occur in persons over 65 years old. The death rate in this age group is 30 percent compared to only ten percent of those j victims under 65 years. J "ALL OF us believe a se-. se-. rious or fatal illness in a child is I truely a tragedy, and therefore most people are eager to protect pro-tect their children," says Dr. Jacobson. "But vaccinating older individuals indi-viduals poses a much more difficult dif-ficult problem for us. We simply simp-ly don't have as much precedent prece-dent for vaccinating adults on a large scale," he continues. SOME CONFUSION is also generated by the disease's many similarities with other ' ailments including influenza. ;' Both may be accompanied by fever, chills, fatigue, appetite loss, chest pains and a cough. Although influenza can sometimes some-times lead to death, pneumonia pneumo-nia is usually considered the more serious of the two diseases. dis-eases. Pneumonia is actually a serious se-rious infection of the lungs often produced by bacteria. Today's medical researchers have discovered that while many kinds of bacteria can cause pneumonia, the most common type is pneumococci. "THIS particular bacteria is quite common and often lives in the throats of healthy individuals." indi-viduals." the physician says. "But our body's natural resistance resist-ance to the organism prev ents most people from contracting the disease." However, he continues, this natural resistance is limited to a particular type of bacteria, and since pneumococci come in a large number of types, there is always the chance of coming into contact with a form the body cannot resist. THEREFORE today's vaccine vac-cine has been designed to contain con-tain chemical components of the most common forms of pneumococci the agents w hich cause over 80 percent of all pneumococcal pneumonia infections. And since the vaccine vac-cine doesn't contain any live bacteria there is no chance of developing the disease from the product. - What happens is the vaccine causes the patient's body to develop antibodies to fight the 14 chemical components. Then if any of these particular bacteria types are encountered later, the patient's immune system can recognize the organism and fight against. THOSE WHO should be aware of the vaccine since their chances of contracting a sev ere case of the disease are higher than others are those over 65 and persons with heart, liver or kidney disease, diabetes or sickle cell anemia. The vaccine costs about $5 . and lasts for at least three to five years. The vaccine is administered by injection and studies have shown it can be given at the same time an influenza in-fluenza vaccine is administered. adminis-tered. Dr. Jacobson suggests any questions concerning the vaccine be referred to the patient's pa-tient's private physician. |
