Senior Immunization Update

First patient this morning began with a question: What’s this new coxie vaccine something-or-other I’ve been hearing about? Can you explain that to me? Cox? Oh, you must mean Pneumococcus. Yes, I can explain that: There’s a very common germ that lives on our skin and in our noses, and usually doesn’t cause us any trouble. It’s full name is streptococcus pneumoniae, but we usually call it by its nickname: Pneumococcus. It originally got the name because it’s a fairly frequent cause of pneumonia (lung infection), though it also causes other kinds of infections, like skin, bloodstream, and lining of the brain (meningitis.) There are different strains of this germ that are exactly alike except for different antigens (proteins, sugars, or some combination of the two) on their surface. We call those “serotypes” and they’re important because it’s how our body recognizes them, and protects us from them by making antibodies; separate antibodies for each serotype. There are several vaccines that have been approved against pneumococcus. One is called Pneumovax (which most people refer to as the “pneumonia shot”, but it’s against the germ, not the disease. You can still get pneumonia from other germs, and the shot protects against pneumococcal infections other than pneumonia), and it protects against 23 different strains. It’s currently recommended for everyone at age 65, and for some people younger t...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs