Allergy & Asthma care

Vaccination Services

KidsDoc Monthly Newsletter from AllForKids
December 2008, Vol-1, Issue-12

Content Sources:

CDC, National Institute of Health, American Academy of Pediatrics, Institute of Medicine

New Quizzes/Calculators/Tools at www.allforkidsindia.com

What are the age appropriate developmental milestones for small children? Is your two year old doing the things he/she should be doing at this age? Here is a tool for to help you find out: http://www.allforkidsindia.com/allforkids/Resources/ DevelopmentMilestonesand.aspx

Sleep Tips for your Children

Sleep is a natural part of everybody's life, but many people know very little about how important it is. Sleep is something our bodies need to do; it is not an option. Even though the exact reasons for sleep remain a mystery, we do know that during sleep many of the body's major organ and regulatory systems continue to work actively. Some parts of the brain actually increase their activity dramatically, and the body produces more of certain hormones. For children sleep (deep sleep) is all the more important, because research has shown that most of the growth hormones are secreted in the body during deep sleep.

Sleep, like diet and exercise, is important for our minds and bodies to function normally. In fact, sleep appears to be required for survival. Rats deprived of sleep die within two to three weeks, a time frame similar to death due to starvation.

Inadequate sleep can cause decreases in:

Inadequate sleep can cause increases in:

Adequate sleep (a minimum of 9 hours for most children and more for smaller ones) is needed , here are ten tips to make sure that your child receives adequate sleep.

Vaccine Ingredients

Here is an overview of how vaccines work and what vaccines contain so that many of the misgivings about vaccines can be avoided:

The primary mechanism by which vaccines work is to expose the body in a safe form to the same organisms that cause the diseases thus causing the body to develop an immune response and be ready to fight off the organism when it actually arrives to cause the disease.

The primary content of all vaccines are antigens, the active ingredients that prompt the body to create immune cells that will protect against a future infection. Antigens may be in several forms:

• 1. Weakened viruses: The Measles, MMR, Oral Polio(OPV) and chickenpox vaccines contain weakened viruses. Weakened viruses cannot replicate in the body to cause disease, but still prompt an immune response to protect the recipient from getting the disease.
• 2. Inactivated (or killed) viruses: The Injectable polio (IPV), hepatitis A, influenza and rabies vaccines contain inactivated viruses, which cannot cause the disease. Because the body still recognizes the virus, it produces immune cells to protect itself.
• 3. Partial/ or Part of viruses: Some vaccines contain just part of the virus, such as a specific protein, that will prompt an immune response. The hepatitis B vaccine is made this way.
• 4. Partial / or Part of bacteria: The Hib, pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines are made using part of the sugar coating (or polysaccharide) of the bacteria. The vaccine creates immunity against this sugar coating, providing protection against the bacteria. Bacterial vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) are made by inactivating the protein in the bacteria that causes harm.

Vaccines also contain some inactive ingredients, which help make them safer and more effective. Inactive ingredients include:

Each additive serves a specific function in a vaccine. These ingredients have been found to be safe in humans in the quantities given in vaccines, which is much less than children are exposed to in their environment, food and water daily.

Aluminum salts – Aluminum salts help your body create a better immune response to vaccines, making the vaccine more effective. Without an adjuvant like aluminum, people could need more shots or face lower immunity. Vaccines are not the only source of aluminum exposure to infants. Because aluminum is abundant in the earth’s crust, it is present in our food, air and water, including breast milk and formula. The aluminum contained in vaccines is similar to that found in 33 ounces of baby formula. Aluminum has been used in vaccines for 75 years and has been found to be safe in all studies.

Formaldehyde – Small amounts of formaldehyde in some vaccines sterilize the vaccine fluid to prevent harmful germs from infecting your child. It is used to detoxify the tetanus toxin, thus making a toxoid that will produce immunity without toxicity. Vaccines are not the only source of formaldehyde your baby is exposed to. Formaldehyde is also in many common products, and is a byproduct of human metabolism. All humans have formaldehyde in their blood stream at levels higher than that which an infant receives in vaccines. The amount of formaldehyde in vaccines is safe.

Antibiotics – Antibiotics, such as neomycin, are present in some vaccines to prevent bacterial contamination during the manufacturing process; the antibiotics are added to the culture media that is used to grow the viruses. The trace quantities of antibiotics in vaccines rarely, if ever, cause allergic reactions.

Egg protein – Influenza and yellow fever vaccines are produced in eggs, so egg proteins are present in the final product and can cause allergic reaction. Measles and mumps vaccines are made in chick embryo cells in culture, not in eggs. The much smaller amount of residual egg proteins found in the MMR vaccine is not sufficient to cause allergic reactions.

Gelatin – Some vaccines contain gelatin to protect them against freeze-drying or heat. People with severe allergies to gelatin should avoid getting gelatin-containing vaccines.

Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, was removed from childhood vaccines in 2001. It is still present in some influenza vaccines. Valid scientific studies have shown there is no link between thimerosal and autism. Since thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines, autism rates have actually increased, supplying further evidence that thimerosal DOES NOT cause autism. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the CDC, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) agree that science does not support a link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism.

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Disease Focus – Hepatitis-A

Hepatitis-A is an acute liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), lasting from a few weeks to several months. It does not lead to chronic infection

Transmission: Ingestion of fecal matter, even in microscopic amounts, from close person-to-person contact or ingestion of contaminated food or drinks. In Kochi area the most frequent reason for the outbreaks has been contaminated water.

Vaccination: Hepatitis A vaccination is recommended for all children starting at age 1 year, travelers to certain countries, and others at risk.

Symptoms of hepatitis A:

Some people with hepatitis A do not have any symptoms. Symptoms include the following:

Healthcare Quality – a perspective

Our focus at AllForKids is on providing Care with Quality to our patients. We constantly strive to improve the Quality of Care we provide. We thought it made sense to underline the principles of quality of care that we strive to improve upon:

What Is Quality?

The Institute of Medicine defines health care quality as "the degree to which health care services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge."

Quality Domains

The Institute of Medicine further defines quality as having the following properties or domains:

Effectiveness. Relates to providing care processes and achieving outcomes as supported by scientific evidence.

Efficiency. Relates to maximizing the quality of a comparable unit of health care delivered or unit of health benefit achieved for a given unit of health care resources used.

Equity. Relates to providing health care of equal quality to those who may differ in personal characteristics other than their clinical condition or preferences for care.

Patient centeredness. Relates to meeting patients' needs and preferences and providing education and support.

Safety. Relates to actual or potential safety issues.

Timeliness. Relates to obtaining needed care while minimizing delays.

We at AllForKids continue to work to improve the care we provide across all these domains.

Periodic Health Alerts/News items of local interest:

AllForKids is proud to announce a weekly Alert/News Service on its web site which brings to you updated health information including disease alerts and local health trends. Please visit www.allforkidsindia.com and click on the Alert pop up to see this week's alert and alerts/news from past weeks.

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Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic
North Fort Gate , Next to Adampilly Kavu Temple , Tripunithura-682301