Measles vaccine(Biovac Institute)

SUNDAY, June 16, 2024 -- Exploring Europe, taking an African safari, going on a trip to the tropics: In many cases, vaccines are needed for travel, and that's doubly true for children. According to pediatrician Dr. Lauren Nguyen , researching what vaccines are needed and preparing well before your family's departure is crucial. “I tell my families that it’s best to come in about six weeks prior to international travel,” said Nguyen, who's based in Torrance, Calif. and is affiliated with the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Care Network. Meet with your child's pediatrician to review travel plans, figure out what vaccines are required or recommended based on your travel destination and arrange to get any shots needed. That consultation is probably best done with an in-person visit, not a phone call, Nguyen noted. Not sure what shots the country you're visiting requires? Head to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Travelers’ Health website for up to date info for countries worldwide. "The CDC website tells you about any current outbreaks, as well as the recommended vaccines for that country,” Nguyen said in a hospital news release. Besides any special vaccines required by the country you're visiting, make sure your child is up to date on routine shots for seasonal infections like COVID, flu and RSV. Planning ahead is crucial because many vaccines require multiple doses given weeks apart, Nguyen noted. Pediatricians may also not have large supplies of vaccines for diseases like yellow fever or typhoid, and may need time to order them. Then there's time needed for vaccines to give your child's immune system a full boost. “It takes about two to four weeks to respond to the vaccine and develop the antibodies,” Nguyen explained. And it's not just about needles: Daily dose malaria pills, for example, need to be started up to two weeks before departure, taken the entire period that you're in a malaria zone, and then taken for a month after you return home. Vaccine schedules also vary by age, Ngyuen noted. Measles outbreaks are occuring worldwide with greater frequency, and measles vaccine recommendations are different for babies versus older children. Children typically wait to get the first dose of the measles vaccine between the ages of 12 and 15 months and the second dose between 4 and 6 years of age. However, for infants “that changes for international travel,” Nguyen said. “Children between 6 and 12 months of age should get a first dose of the measles vaccine prior to travel.” That first dose should still be followed up by a second dose between the ages of 4 and 6, she added. Hepatitis A is typically contracted through contaminated water or food. Again, routine vaccination recommendations suggest that a child get their first hep A shot between 12 and 23 months of age. However, “infants 6 to 11 months old should be vaccinated when protection against hepatitis A is recommended for the destination," Nguyen said. And if your baby is very young -- under 2 months of age -- you probably shouldn't travel internationally unless it’s absolutely necessary, she added. Another key shot is the meningitis A (MenACWY) vaccine. It's easily transmitted and Nguyen suggests that kids be vaccinated against meningitis A before travel, especially when people are circulating in close quarters, such as on cruise ships. Kids ages 16 and older should also be immunized against the meningitis B vaccine. Cruise ships can be hotbeds of infection, so don't forget vaccinations even if you aren't docking at exotic locales. “The people you’ll be on the ship with might have been vacationing all over the world,” she explained. "Vaccines can protect your children from a wide range of illnesses these passengers might bring on board." Besides shots and pills, you can take other steps to keep you and your family safe while abroad. According to Nguyen, these include bringing: Last but not least, make sure you have adequate travel health insurance so you can access care should any health emergencies arise. SOURCE: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Care Network, news release, June 13, 2024 Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

Birth by C-section more than doubles odds of measles vaccine failure. Researchers say it is vital that children born by caesarean section receive two doses of the measles vaccine for robust protection against the disease. A study by the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fudan University, China, has found that a single dose of the measles jab is up to 2.6 times more likely to be completely ineffective in children born by C-section, compared to those born naturally. Failure of the vaccine means that the child's immune system does not produce antibodies to fight against measles infection, so they remain susceptible to the disease. A second measles jab was found to induce a robust immunity against measles in C-section children. Measles is a highly infectious disease, and even low vaccine failure rates can significantly increase the risk of an outbreak. A potential reason for this effect is linked to the development of the infant's gut microbiome -- the vast collection of microbes that naturally live inside the gut. Other studies have shown that vaginal birth transfers a greater variety of microbes from mother to baby, which can boost the immune system. "We've discovered that the way we're born -- either by C-section or natural birth -- has long-term consequences on our immunity to diseases as we grow up," said Professor Henrik Salje in the University of Cambridge?'s Department of Genetics, joint senior author of the report. He added: "We know that a lot of children don't end up having their second measles jab, which is dangerous for them as individuals and for the wider population. "Infants born by C-section are the ones we really want to be following up to make sure they get their second measles jab, because their first jab is much more likely to fail." The results are published today in the journal Nature Microbiology. At least 95% of the population needs to be fully vaccinated to keep measles under control but the UK is well below this, despite the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine being available through the NHS Routine Childhood Immunisation Programme. An increasing number of women around the world are choosing to give birth by caesarean section: in the UK a third of all births are by C-section, in Brazil and Turkey over half of all children are born this way. "With a C-section birth, children aren't exposed to the mother's microbiome in the same way as with a vaginal birth. We think this means they take longer to catch up in developing their gut microbiome, and with it, the ability of the immune system to be primed by vaccines against diseases including measles," said Salje. To get their results, the researchers used data from previous studies of over 1,500 children in Hunan, China, which included blood samples taken every few weeks from birth to the age of 12. This allowed them to see how levels of measles antibodies in the blood change over the first few years of life, including following vaccination. They found that 12% of children born via caesarean section had no immune response to their first measles vaccination, as compared to 5% of children born by vaginal delivery. This means that many of the children born by C-section did still mount an immune response following their first vaccination. Two doses of the measles jab are needed for the body to mount a long-lasting immune response and protect against measles. According to the World Health Organisation,in 2022 only 83% of the world's children had received one dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday -- the lowest since 2008. Salje said: "Vaccine hesitancy is really problematic, and measles is top of the list of diseases we're worried about because it's so infectious." Measles is one of the world's most contagious diseases, spread by coughs and sneezes. It starts with cold-like symptoms and a rash, and can lead to serious complications including blindness, seizures, and death. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, there were major measles epidemics every few years causing an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year. The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.