Daily dose for kids

Monday, November 30, 2015

India introduces injectable polio vaccine in routine immunization TODAY

In the first phase, the injection will be introduced in six states: Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

New Delhi: Babies getting their third dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV) will now also be administered an injection with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), as part of India’s efforts to boost its polio immunization programme. IPV and OPV together can provide additional protection to a child.

India was certified polio-free on 27 March 2014, but the immunization programme continues in the country since two of its neighbours remain polio-endemic and due to the threat of vaccine-derived polio.

In the first phase, the injection will be introduced in six states: Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

“The last polio case was reported in India in 2011. But the risk is still there with the virus being active in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hence, we are introducing IPV for double protection against polio,” said Union minister for health and family welfare J.P. Nadda, at an event to launch the vaccine. “By 2016 April, we will switch from trivalent to bivalent vaccine. We have to ensure that core and support systems work, along with a robust cold chain system and improved routine immunization,” added Nadda.

Trivalent vaccines protect against three strains of the polio virus while the bivalent variety protects against two. Immunization programmes the world over are switching to the bivalent vaccine since the third strain has been eradicated, and the trivalent vaccine could theoretically re-introduce it.

There are challenges that come with the introduction of the vaccine. IPV is an expensive vaccine and each dose costs around Rs.120 and unlike OPV, the IPV which is an injectable vaccine can only be given by trained health workers at vaccination sites. There are also issues of vaccine availability which the health ministry is trying to resolve.

“IPV is a key step towards global endgame strategy. It is a tough task to convince a population to continue with OPV after a country is declared polio-free and even harder to introduce IPV on top of that,” said Louis George Arsenault, country representative India, Unicef. “A lot of people doubted India could get polio-free, but it happened. We now look forward to a transition from OPV to IPV. If India can do it, so can the world,” he added.

IPV is not a new vaccine and was first used in 1955. Thirty countries have already introduced IPV in their national immunization schedule, while 126 countries including India will introduce IPV soon.

Nikita Mehta

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

For all the mistakes, for the most part, doctors get it right. Remember that.

I have two refrigerators.

The full size, expensive version, sits in the usual location in the kitchen. The small black one rests idly in the basement. Excluding this morning, of course, when I dragged it up the steps and begrudgingly coaxed it back into action. Let me explain.

Six months ago my old refrigerator started acting up. Somewhere around year five, it’s motors groaned, its coolers moaned, and all the sudden the food started to smell. So I called the repairman and hundreds of dollars later, it worked like a dream.

Until it didn’t.

The repairs held for all of a week. I called the repairman back. And we danced this dance a few more times. In the meantime, I ran out to the local appliance store and bought a mini fridge to store my food.

I lived out of that little black fridge for weeks while workmen came and went. Every time one problem was fixed, another popped up. Eventually I bit the bullet, returned to the appliance store and bought a brand new, state of the art, full sized refrigerator to replace the old.

I happily returned the black fridge to the basement and thought little about it again. For six months, my new appliance worked exactly the way it should. The ice bucket was always full. Each zone maintained the correct temperature. I had separate drawers for the fruits, vegetables, and dairy.

I thought I was truly on the pathway to appliance nirvana when the unexpected happened. I awoke one morning to fine a horrible sound coming from my brand new refrigerator. Hours later it was dead. My ice cream melted and my vegetables wilted.

I called a different repairmen who showed up promptly, and fixed the problem in short order. Money well spent, or so I thought, until the exact same scenario played itself out forty-eight hours later.

Another trip to the basement, and the little black refrigerator has once again taken up residence in my kitchen.

This experience is nothing new. I can’t count how many times a television has broken, and an iPad has malfunctioned, or a dishwasher latch has busted. Each time I dutifully call an expert who sometimes gets the job done. But often the repair unravels or the machine is deemed DOA and unable to be fixed.

This often makes me wonder why we expect so much out of our doctors. The human body is far more complex than any electronic. The number of moving parts measures in the millions. And god knows how personal psychology plays into the range of pathology.

And for the most part, doctors get it right. Eighty to ninety percent of the time. Day after day, year after year.

I wish I could get this kind of service with my appliances.

Jordan Grumet is an internal medicine physician who blogs at In My Humble Opinion. Watch his talk at dotMED 2013, Caring 2.0: Social Media and the Rise Of The Empathic Physician. He is the author of I Am Your Doctor: and This Is My Humble Opinion.

Source

Monday, November 23, 2015

Misconception among patients about "Antibiotic Resistance" - a multi-country WHO survey highlights important facts !

Misconceptions about antibiotics and the health threat posed by antibiotic resistance are common around the world, according to findings from a multicountry survey from the World Health Organization (WHO) released today.

The survey, conducted online and in person, asked nearly 10,000 adults about use and knowledge of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. It was conducted in 12 countries (two countries per WHO region): Barbados, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan, and Vietnam. Among the common misconceptions highlighted by the WHO:

Three quarters (76%) of respondents think antibiotic resistance happens when the body (not bacteria) becomes resistant to antibiotics.
Two thirds (66%) believe individuals are not at risk for a drug-resistant infection if they personally take their antibiotics as prescribed. Nearly half (44%) of respondents think antibiotic resistance is only a problem for people who take antibiotics regularly.
More than half (57%) of respondents think there is not much they can do to stop antibiotic resistance, and 64% believe the medical community will solve the problem before it becomes a serious threat.
Nearly two thirds (64%) say they know antibiotic resistance is an issue that could affect them and their families, but how it affects them and what they can do to address it are not well understood.
Nearly two thirds (64%) of respondents believe antibiotics can be used to treat viruses, and one third (32%) believe they can stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than completing the prescribed course of treatment.

Source (needs free medscape registration)