Thursday, February 12, 2015

Adult Vaccination: Why You Need Your Shots

Due to recent outbreaks of pertussis (also known as whooping cough), protection against the virus was added to this vaccine in 2005.

Symptoms you'll avoid: With tetanus, you get fever, muscle stiffness, difficulty swallowing and body spasms.

Diphtheria causes a nasty respiratory infection that produces a thick coating on the throat.

Pertussis brings on a cough that sounds like a "whoop" and can last up to three months.

Who should get it: Everyone needs Tdap, but especially those who have close contact with an infant (who would be more likely to die from pertussis infection than older children or adults).

How often: A single dose of Tdap is followed by a booster every 10 years.

Hepatitis B Vaccine

Why you need this adult vaccination: This severe liver disease is transmitted through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, such as blood and semen. In 2011 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – an estimated 18,800 new cases were reported in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Symptoms you'll avoid: Yellowing of skin and eyes, fatigue, stomach distress, joint pain, liver cancer, liver failure, even death.

Who should get it: High-risk adults, including homosexual males, health-care workers, drug users, prisoners, or men and women who have had more than one sexual partner in the last six months.

How often: There are three shots total – an initial vaccine, one shot a month later and another four months after that.



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