Three Important Vaccine Shots for Back-to-School Children

You all remember that when you headed back to school after an enjoyable summer, you sometimes had to take vaccine shots. There are many, but in this article, I decided to focus on three important ones (others are equally important, but these happen to be the ones I chose): tetanus, diphtheria, and polio.

Now, have you ever wondered what these shots mean for your children? In many cases, you would have heard about them, but if you were to explain them, you would have been baffled. So, this article is designed to provide very basic information about three diseases that the vaccines try to prevent. I highly recommend that to find further information, click on the references I cited as they will be able to provide much more detailed information.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, the patients with tetanus are infected by the bacterium called Clostridium tetani. This bacterium attacks the nervous system, and some of the problems and symptoms caused by tetanus are serious muscle contractions, lockjaw and inability to swallow any food or drink, and problems in the nervous system.

It is a very serious disease, and according to CDC (acronym for the Centers of Disease Control), for 10% to 20% of the patients with the disease, the result is death. Also, this disease can occur in older people as well. As far as its transmission goes, it is not contagious from one person to another. Instead, it occurs by a break in the skin. The best way for this disease is prevention, and each vaccine shot you or your child takes will contain a substance called tetanus toxoid, the vaccine against tetanus.

The second disease is diphtheria. The National Institute of Health stated that diphtheria is infected by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae. After a person is infected with this virus, the bacteria spread to the rest of the body, often causing breathing problems or damages to heart and other organs. Fortunately, the advancements in vaccination and medical techniques allowed less than five cases of diphtheria in United States annually (data from the National Institute of Health).

Diphtheria is infected by coughing or sneezing or eating a contaminated food. Similar to tetanus, the best way is to be vaccinated at early age. But, luckily, even if you do contract diphtheria, the National Institute of Health explained that you can be treated with diphtheria antitoxin although you have to be given the treatment as soon as possible.

The third and last disease in this article is polio. Polio is particularly well-known due to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who contracted the polio (and overcame the difficulty to be a great president). Anyway, polio is a very contagious disease, and according to the MayoClinic, polio comes in two main types: nonparalyptic and paralyptic polio.

Nonparalyptic polio merely has symptoms like fever, vomiting, fatigue, and other symptoms, but the patient quickly recuperates. On the other hand, the paralyptic polio initially begins with nonparalyptic symptoms, but soon changes the symptoms to more serious ones within one to ten days after contracting the paralyptic polio. The MayoClinic showed that there were three types of the paralyptic polio: spinal polio, bulbar polio, and bulbospinal polio. Spinal polio includes damages to the spinal cord and possibly, permanent paralysis. Bulbar polio consists of brain damages, and the MayoClinic explained that in the case of bulbospinal polio, it is very dangerous because it essentially is the combination of both spinal polio and bulbar polio.

I hope that this article elucidated you on basic information on the three vaccines. It is very important that the children be vaccinated because their vaccination can prevent diseases for the years to come although in some diseases and cases, you need to receive vaccines again when you are older. For most people, you do not need to know the detailed information about each disease for vaccination. But, I think that it is important and justified that you know why you are getting certain shots, and what would have happened if you were not vaccinated and contracted the diseases.

Sources:

National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Vaccines: VPD-VAC/Tetanus/In-Short. Department of Health and Human Services: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Medline Plus. Diphtheria: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. National Institute of Health.

Mayo Clinic Staff. Polio: Symptoms - MayoClinic.com. MayoClinic.

Mayo Clinic Staff. Polio: Causes - MayoClinic.com. MayoClinic.