Important Vaccines, Healthy Travel, and Happy Feet (Part 1)
Important
Vaccines, Healthy Travel, and Happy Feet
by Darra McMullen,
Women’s Health Network
Writer/Researcher
For many
people, August is a time of transition into something new and a time for
completion of summer time goals. During
the month of August and often extending into the first two weeks of September,
people take their final summer trips, start new school routines, and slowly
push toward concluding summer’s more relaxed, if very hot, pace of life. People start thinking about the details of fall’s
activities.
End-of-summer
vacations, new school years, and fall trips for business or personal needs all
have a few things in common from a health standpoint. Those things are: (1) immunizations for the
whole family, not just the kids; (2) helpful tips on how to stay healthy while
traveling; and (3) how to deal with a variety of foot problems from the serious
conditions to the everyday annoyances.
There is so
much information about these three topics – immunizations, healthy travel, and
foot problems – that as the writer of this article, I’ve decided it would be
best to divide all of this information into thirds for easier reading
“consumption”. So, this month, we’ll
have three segments to our story; the first one, which you are reading now,
will include some vaccine information and healthy travel tips. The second story segment, available on-line
around Aug. 10th – 12th will feature additional vaccine
information and more travel tips, as well as the beginning of the information
on foot problems. The third segment of
the article, available on-line around Aug. 20th – 22nd,
will focus on foot problems, their prevention and treatment, and how best to
“step into fall” on the “right foot”, so to speak.
Part 1 of Vaccine
Information
Influenza:
To get
started, let’s take a look at one of the most commonly discussed (and used)
immunizations, the flu vaccine.
Influenza vaccines, although not perfect, have many benefits and are
certainly worth getting. Some people
criticize the vaccines by saying they received the immunization and still got
the flu. That is certainly
possible. Flu vaccines can’t possibly
cover every strain of influenza out in the public; however, they can cover some
of the most common ones, making you less vulnerable to those disease strains. Although immunity conferred by the vaccine is
not 100%, if you do contract one of the flu strains for which you have been
vaccinated, your symptoms will likely be far less severe and last less long
than had you not been vaccinated.
Also,
getting a flu vaccine is very helpful to those persons around you, especially
the very young, the very old, or the sick or disabled, all of whom are at much
greater risk of developing life-threatening complications than a healthy young
adult or middle aged person would be.
The flu
vaccine takes about two weeks after injection to confer optimal immunity; so,
again, start early for best results.
However, even if you don’t get the vaccine until late in the flu season,
it is better to get it late than never.
Flu vaccinations
come in the trivalent variety (meaning protection against three types of flu)
or the “quad”, meaning protection against four strains of flu. The “quad” vaccine isn’t always available
everywhere, although it is a better choice from an immunity standpoint. If you can find the “quad” vaccine, get
it. If the “quad” is not available to
you, by all means, get the trivalent variety of injection. You’d be better off with a trivalent vaccine
than none at all.
Serious
complications can result from contracting the flu, such as pneumonia,
dehydration, and even heart attacks. The
flu is a serious disease with life-threatening possibilities. Take every precaution not to contract it.
Another
fairly recently discovered benefit of getting vaccinated for influenza is a
noticeable reduction in the risk of death from cardiac related events, such as
heart attack, stroke, or heart failure.
A review of six studies of more than 6,700 adults who were vaccinated
for the flu indicated a 36% reduction in death by cardiac related causes. This 2015 report was based on information
from Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
Pneumonia:
As
mentioned above, pneumonia is a serious complication of the flu. However, pneumonia occurs quite often with no
flu virus present. Often (mistakenly)
thought of as a disease only for the very aged or for people with pre-existing
conditions, in reality, pneumonia can strike anyone of any age at any time with
little warning. For instance, something
as commonplace as a light head cold can initiate a set of circumstances that
allow pneumonia germs to take hold of a person.
If the patient has a lot of sinus drainage down the back of the throat
and into the chest, a secondary bacterial infection can “set up shop” in the
wet, mucous coated lung tissue and/or bronchial tubes, resulting in
pneumonia. Pneumonia can be quite
difficult to eradicate in some patients.
Weeks of downtime and multiple rounds of antibiotics may be necessary to
clear pneumonia. Some weaker victims may
never fully recover, keeping a low-grade cough and crushing fatigue for the
rest of their lives. It is far better to
prevent pneumonia than to have to endure it or its treatment options.
Fortunately
for us, there are some vaccine choices for preventing pneumonia. Which type of vaccine you should receive is
somewhat dependent on when, if ever, you were vaccinated in the past for
pneumonia and what type of vaccine you received at the time of your last
injection. You can be vaccinated for
pneumonia more than once, but vaccines should be spaced apart properly. Consult with your doctor to figure out a
proper pneumonia vaccination set-up for your personal needs.
Measles:
Measles
cases have been on the rise in Europe and the U.S. over the past few
years. In 2011, there were 10,000 cases
of measles in France alone, with thousands of other cases spread over several
European countries in recent years.
Although American statistics aren’t that dire yet, the U.S. has seen a
concerning increase in numbers of measles cases. Travel between Europe and the U.S. is thought
to contribute to an increase in cases in the States, along with
“under-vaccination” of children. Adults
in the U.S. may either not have been vaccinated properly as children, or
vaccines from decades ago may no longer be providing adequate protection
against the disease. In any case, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here in the U.S. recommends that all
children and adults have their measles vaccines updated to stem the tide of
measles proliferation.
Part 1 of Tips for
Healthy Travel:
• If
traveling out of the United States, start researching vaccine recommendations
well in advance of your trip’s start date.
Check with your doctor, as well as city, state, and national health
authorities for advice on what diseases are prevalent in your destination
country. If the consensus of your
research points to the need for multiple vaccines, start early in receiving
them, so that you may space out the vaccines, thereby allowing your immune
system a chance to adjust to the challenges and work up immunity to the various
diseases.
It doesn’t
hurt to contact the visitor’s bureau (or similar entity) or health authorities
in your destination country for their requirements (if any) or recommendations
for vaccines. They can also be of
assistance in advising you about what diseases are prevalent in their country
for which there are no vaccines, and for which you may need to be prepared with
precautions or medicines.
• When at a
hotel or motel, prepare to clean the television remote, the alarm clock, ice
bucket, and door handles yourself. Take
along (or purchase soon after arriving) disinfecting wipes or rubbing alcohol
(90% or greater) and paper towels. Maids
rarely, if ever, clean these germ-infested items; so, “traveler beware”.
• Another
couple areas of likely contamination are the steering wheels and gearshifts of
rental cars. The aforementioned items
are rarely cleaned by car rental companies.
Again, use your own disinfecting materials.
• There is some
good news about airport restaurants and healthful eating. At 15 major U.S. airports, an average of 83%
of restaurants have at least one vegetarian item on the menu now, as compared
with 57% about 14 years ago. Most
airport restaurants also now offer one or more low-fat or low-calorie meals.
• Stick with
bottled water or canned beverages on airplanes.
Many airlines don’t stock enough bottled water for everyone. When the bottled supply runs out, flight
attendants may resort to using the airplane’s water system, which the EPA found
to be contaminated with coliform bacteria in 15% of planes, as reported by AARP
in 2013.
Often, you
can buy bottled water in the airport yourself before boarding to be extra safe.
