Content
- Do I need measles vaccines?
- What measles vaccine is used
- How to prepare for immunization
- Where to get vaccinated
- What is the normal response to a vaccine?
- Possible complications and consequences after vaccination
- Contraindications for vaccination
Measles is a contagious infectious disease that often affects children. It is accompanied by many complications that threaten the general state of health. Measles vaccination is a common occurrence in most modern states, considered mandatory and necessary for a long and healthy life of the child..
Do I need measles vaccines?
Vaccination against measles allows a person in case of a collision with a disease to survive it imperceptibly, not to get sick at all or to transfer it in a mild form. This is achieved by preparing the immune system for a possible attack by a pathogen. To this end, the measles vaccine contains live attenuated viruses that help the immune system create antibodies for future encounters with the disease..
A measles vaccine reduces the likelihood of complications from the disease. It is of extreme importance for women who intend to become pregnant, if they have not previously been vaccinated and they did not have measles. Infection in the womb will adversely affect the fetus, and pregnant women are not allowed to vaccinate. The child should be vaccinated as soon as possible, since before the age of five he will be more susceptible to measles as well as to all kinds of complications from the disease, which can lead to death.
It is a misconception that the best “vaccination” is measles transferred at an early age. It must be remembered that a sick person is a carrier of the disease, from which the unvaccinated, including pregnant women, can suffer, and the one to whom the vaccination was given does not pose a danger to those around him. It should also be borne in mind that measles has serious complications, such as laryngitis, bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia and otitis media. Urgent vaccination is possible after contact with a sick person.
For adults
Once in the body, measles virus attacks the mucous membranes of the eye and respiratory tract. Once in the lymph nodes, causing inflammation, it spreads through the body with a stream of blood. Then, after ten days, which lasts the incubation period of the disease, the first symptoms occur. They are similar to those corresponding to the common cold or flu. There is a runny nose, headache, cough, swelling of the face and eyelids, and tears flow abundantly. Then the temperature becomes dangerously high, a whitish rash appears on the mucous membrane of the cheeks, and then it covers the entire skin of the patient.
Measles is a dangerous disease, as the result of its complications can be not only pneumonia, impaired immunity or bronchitis, but also impaired liver function, partial loss of vision and hearing. Treatment of the disease can be delayed if you have to deal with complications. Vaccinations for adults will help to avoid this. After a measles injection, you should not drink alcohol for 3 days. The duration of the vaccine is 12-13 years. Adults do not revaccinate. If there was contact with the patient, but another 72 hours have not passed, then measles prevention can help, immunoglobulin is used for this.
For children
Currently, vaccination is also done as desired. The fact that there are still cases of measles deaths proves the presence of parents who, for one reason or another, do not vaccinate their children. The danger is not only the disease itself, but also complications, which include enteropathy, dysfunction of the nervous system, encephalitis.
The infant has anti-measles antibodies in the blood from the mother. Before the age of six months, vaccination is not recommended due to the fact that the child’s immune system is in the active formation phase. In some cases, if there is a risk of illness, the vaccine is given as early as nine months, but fifteen percent of the children are not immune to the disease. To guarantee the necessary response of the immune system, it is better to follow the schedule: they are vaccinated a year, then at 6.
What measles vaccine is used
Measles vaccines can be combined or mono. The latter act exclusively against the virus, while combined, depending on the type, create immunity: against measles and rubella; measles, mumps and rubella (vaccine CCP, the vaccine “Priorix” is used); measles and diphtheria. With the simultaneous use of different monovaccines, injections are done separately in different parts of the body. Domestic drugs belong to the number of monovaccines, imported are often combined.
How to prepare for immunization
To minimize the possibility of unpleasant sensations and complications, you should wait with the vaccine in case of any ailment, it is better to avoid crowds, prevent overheating or hypothermia, do not change the climate and time zone, and do not worry too much. Children need to measure the temperature before visiting a doctor, it should be normal. Sometimes doctors prescribe allergy medications before vaccination..
Where to get vaccinated
The site for the combination measles vaccine is the shoulder (or scapula) for subcutaneous injection, the buttock or thigh for intramuscular injection. It is never done intravenously so as not to produce an undesirable effect. The vaccine itself is a powder called weakened and living viruses called a lyophilisate. For injection, it dissolves in a special liquid, as a result, before the injection, you can visually assess the quality of the drug by the presence of sediment, turbidity or atypical color.
What is the normal response to a vaccine?
Vaccination is designed to produce an immune system response that will allow it to develop antibodies and subsequently be ready to face the virus. Therefore, a common occurrence within a day after measles vaccination is a slight increase in temperature, a slight painful swelling and tightening at the injection site. All this goes through another day.
Then, after a period of five to seventeen days, the second phase of the reaction begins. In this case, the temperature can rise up to 40 degrees, and the fever lasts up to four days. In children, convulsions and a rash often appear as a side effect. Against such symptoms, ibuprofen and paracetamol will be effective, but in the case of high (more than 39 degrees) and long-term temperature does not decrease, it is recommended to consult a doctor.
Possible complications and consequences after vaccination
If a child who has been vaccinated has an allergic reaction, he may experience a rash, Quincke’s edema, and urticaria. If the reaction turns out to be strong, then it can reach anaphylactic shock. If the child is prone to convulsions, along with an increase in temperature, their fibril variety may appear, lasting a couple of minutes and not causing harm to health. In rare cases, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis occurs due to the fact that in the first year of life there was an undetected disease.
Contraindications for vaccination
As a contraindication for vaccination is an allergy to neomycin and chicken eggs, which are the basis for the cultivation of the viral material of the vaccine. Individual susceptibility to neomycin is possible. The presence in the body of the current inflammatory process, an exacerbated chronic disease, infection or intoxication will force you to wait with the vaccine until they are eliminated. Pregnancy and immune system problems are also on the list of contraindications.
