Pneumococcal infection is very common. According to statistics every minute as a result of its complications, one child's life ends. Pneumococcus is the main cause of bronchitis, otitis media, pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis in children up to the age of two. Is it possible to protect your child? Pneumococcal vaccination - that's saving your kid's health and life!
Completely protect the child from contact with pneumococcus, unfortunately, it is impossible, but there are ways to prepare him for this unpleasant meeting. The most effective method for preventing the development of a pathological process in a baby is an inoculation against pneumococcal infection. The reviews confirm that this vaccine is indispensable in the fight against many serious diseases. Numerous epidemics of influenza and ARVI lead to a violation of the barrier function of the epithelium of the lower and upper respiratory tract, creating a favorable environment for penetration of the pathogen. That is why pneumococcal vaccination is often carried out simultaneously with vaccination against influenza, usually from September to December. This avoids many complications and greatly reduces childhood morbidity.
How does the vaccine work?
Pneumococcal vaccination is carried out with both preventive and therapeutic purposes. In the latter case, the vaccine is used as part of combination therapy for long-term chronic respiratory diseases and bronchial asthma during remission. As a result of vaccinations in children, Entering into the risk group, there is a decrease in the severity and duration of episodes of bronchial asthma, a decrease in repeated cases of acute respiratory disease and otitis, as well as minimizing the risk of adenoid vegetation.
Medicine knows more than 90 varieties of pneumococci, so an infection provoked by one type of pathogen does not form an immunity to others. In connection with these children, an pneumococcal vaccine should be given regardless of the number of episodes of the development of this infection in the past. To prevent diseases, polysaccharide vaccines are used, which can be administered from the age of two, as well as conjugated drugs used from two months.
Contraindications to pneumococcal vaccination:
- the presence of allergic reactions in severe form;
Acute diseases;
- chronic pathologies in the stage of relapse.
Pneumococcal vaccination, the complications of which are minimal, in some cases still can lead to unpleasant consequences. Several episodes were recorded when, after vaccination, the child had anaphylactic shock, but repeated injections of the drug did not increase the risk of adverse reactions. As a rule, the vaccine against pneumococcus is well tolerated by both a child and an adult organism. In some cases, redness and densification may occur at the site of the injection. Of the general reactions, one can single out a fever and slight malaise, but they pass independently after a day. Despite such complications, pneumococcal vaccination is an excellent opportunity to maintain the health of your baby.