Vaccines: focus on adults - Summa Health System

The wars of the world: Saving livesthrough vaccinationDW Kimberlin Inf Dis News. Aug 1, 2011• It’s been a hard week. The infectious diseases ward of our hospital isso full that we have to put many children who normally would be inisolation wings on regular floors. The 3-year-old with smallpox diedearly this morning, and the three infants on the ventilator withmeasles pneumonia are not far behind.• Although there is not much more to do for them, the house staff isconsistently over their duty hours because of the sheer number ofother children in the hospital. The easiest way to tell the dozenchildren with bacterial meningitis apart is that the eight withHaemophilus influenza type b meningitis have seizures that areeasier to control than the two with pneumococcal central nervoussystem infection. Of course, the two with meningococcus are easilydistinguished by their amputations. The one bit of good news is thatit is not summertime, so at least we do not have to deal with polioyet. You’d think that in the year 2011 something could be done toprevent this.