Newspaper Page Text
HEALTH MATTERS, Sunday Sun, May 16,1993; Sun Extra & Home Journal, May 19,1993; Robins Rev-Up, May 21, i993
2
Immunization time
Current vaccines greatly reduce the threat of childhood diseases
It wasn’t that long ago that
parents were fearful of sending their
children to the neighborhood pool
because they might be exposed to
the dreaded polio virus. In 1952, the
height of the polio epidemic in the
United States, 21,269 cases were
reported. Several years later, the
Salk vaccine was discovered and
parents everywhere sighed with
relief.
The discovery of vaccines againt
polio and other childhood diseases
during the last 40 years has
dramatically reduced the number of
childhood deaths and illnesses
related to the diseases and their side
effects.
Immunization Rates Drop
Unfortunately, 20 to 30 percent
of American preschoolers, and as
high as 50 percent of those in inner
cities and rural areas, are not getting
fully immunized. The reported
cases of childhood diseases are in
creasing.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention reported that from
1988 to 1990, the number of
reported measles cases increased
more than 800 percent. In 1990
more than 25,000 cases were
reported, an all-time high for the
past 20 years.
Mumps cases also have shown a
similar increase. In 1985 there were
2,982 cases and in 1990 the figure
jumped to 12, 848, more than a 400
Gayton develops technique
for side approach surgery
Dr. Johnny Gayton recently
shared with his seven children that
his small stature and hands are a
gift from the Lord. He wants them
to understand that God designed
each of them as a unique individual
with a special purpose.
Small hands have given Dr.
Gayton a special advantage as an
eye surgeon the ability to work
in very limited and tight places.
This physical benefit has allowed
him to develop a technique in cata
ract surgery which is yielding pro
found results.
Many cataract patients are also
plagued by astigmatism. (The front
of the eye is shaped like a football
or the back of a spoon as opposed to
being spherical like a basketball.)
The most common form of cata
ract surgery is a “top approach”
incision. Unless the astigmatism is
centered around the top axis of the
eye, correction of visual loss due to
corneal astigmatism usually will not
occur.
Hence, many people come out of
cataract surgery with astigmatism
that is the same or more severe.
Dr. Gayton presented a paper
during the 1993 annual Advanced
Cataract and Refractive Surgery
meeting in Seattle, Wa. this past
week entitled “Advantages to Side
Approach” which won the honor of
Best of Session.
Dr. Gayton’s “side approach”
cataract surgery allows him to
operate along the axis of the
percent increase. At least 90 percent
are preventable through timely vac
cination.
The Reason for the Drop
Today, by age two, children can
be fully immunized against eight
potentially dangerous diseases;
polio, measles, mumps, rubella
(German measles), diphtheria, teta
nus (lockjaw) and pertussis
(whooping cough).
Infants begin receiving im
munizations as early as two months
and continue with five or six addi
tional visits to a provider until they
are fully immunized at 15 years old.
The problem occurs primarily
with preschool children. All 50
states require children be immuniz
ed before they can attend school,
therefore, compliance is over 98
percent for children ages five and
older. However, immunization rates
drop to as low as 50 percent for
children under age two in inner cit
ies.
There are several explanations.
Children are exposed to each other
at an early age through play groups,
day-care centers and in-home day
care situations. While licensed
day-care centers are required to
show proof of immunization, other
informal child care arrangements
are not.
Today’s parents also have not
seen the tragic effects of many
childhood diseases and may be
astigmatism. He determines where
the major astigmatism is occurring
and his surgical appraoch is made at
that point.
He then uses a procedure known
as phacoemulsification, which
breaks up the cataract using
ultrasonic vibrations and extracts it
by suction. Phaceomulsification
reduces the standard cataract
surgical incision of 12mm to 7mm,
a 42 percent reduction.
The last phase of the procedure is
critical if astigmatism is to be im
proved. He carefully chooses the
timing and the order in which he
removes the sutures, utilizing the
growing new tissue to rebuild and
reshape the cornea to its ideal
spherical shape.
The results:
Most postoperative cataract pa
tients see more clearly without
glasses than ever before. Many pa
tients have recovered to the point of
no longer needing eye glasses.
We cannot promise that this pro
cedure will yield these results in
every patient; however, our
statistics are very encouraging. The
information from our cataract
surgery data base shows a 50 per
cent reduction in astigmatism, a
dramatic improvement in people’s
vision.
For more information, contact
Eyesight Associates of Middle
Georgia at 923-5872.
complacent about or totally ig
norant to the need for immuniza
tion.
In addition, there are barriers for
children from low-income families.
Indigent families face an overall
lack of access to health care
because of its expense.
It costs more than S3OO in the
private sector and about SIOO
through public programs to receive
all the vaccinations.
Public health clinics are not easi
ly accessible to everyone their
hours can be inconvenient to work
ing parents, and families sometimes
wait hours to be seen while more
urgent medical needs for other pa
tients are met.
Saving Outweighs Costs
Having children vaccinated saves
much more in the long run than it
costs. Not only are children pro
tected from the illness itself, but
Immunization Schedule: Suggested Guidelines for Parents
Age when vaccines are given may vary depending on local health department or private physician recommendations.
Protects
Age When Given Vaccine Against Effects oi Disease
__ 1-2 months HBV" hepatitis .... a virus causing an infection ol the liver which can result in liver
(hepatitis B type B cancer or even death; child may become chronic carrier of
I vaccine) the disease
r- 2 months OTP diphtheria can cause severe inlection in nose and throat
fjL (diphtheria,
, • ><) tetanus, tetanus also called "lockjaw"; results when wounds are intected
' pertussis) with tetanus bacteria; causes muscles to go into spasm; can
' be life threatening
pertussis .. . also called whooping cough; severe coughing spells that
can interfere with breathing, eating and drinking; can lead
to pneumonia; seizures or coma may occur
OPV polio a virus that can cause nerve damage leading to muscle
(oral polio weakness or paralysis
vaccine)
Afr Hib bacterial . .. most common cause of meningitis; also can cause
-1 (Haemophilus meningitis severe throat or joint infections
\ influenza type b)
*£<££•*
4 months DTP. OPV, Hib. HBV
Q
6 months DTP, Hib T
6-18 months HBV Mr~\i
sjp
15-18 months MMR measles a viral disease which can be very severe. Possible corripti
(measles, mumps, cations include middle ear infections, encephalitis (swelling
rubella) ol the brain), or pneumonia.
) mumps a viral disease of the salivary glands with painful swelling ol
cheek and jaw areas; several complications, including
(V'l meningitis, can occur.
li rubella rubella (German measles) can cause damage to Ihe
unborn baby in the early stage of pregnancy
DTP. OPV, Hib
4-6 years DTP, OPV, MMR** '
14-16 years Td*** ... . tetanus
rfcVWn (tetanus, diphtheria) diphtheria
, F . , HBVrt IMMUNIZE ••■lEl
First HBV (lose may be given at birth in the hospital followed by 2nd dose at 1 ? months and 3rd dose f*CfUMMA’C i b
at 6-18 months utUnuWO Medical
Many experts recommend this dose ot MMR vaccine be given at entry to middle school or junior high school LITTLE GUYS
“‘Every 10 years thereafter . , ~
Source Parents Guide to Childhood Immunization, US Department ol Health and Human Services. V CiN I'm *
Centers lor Disease Control, 1991 / /
society saves too.
Parents do not have to take time
away from work, and hospitals are
not burdened with additional medi
cal charges from those unable to
pay.
A survey of 45 children’s hospi
tals by the National Association of
Children’s Hospitals and Related
Institutions reviewed hospital
charges for 1,839 children admitted
for measles and pertussis.
The average hospital charge per
child was more than $9,500. It is
estimated it costs 10 times more to
treat the diseases than it does to
prevent them.
A study of the measles vaccine
conducted during the first 20 years
of its licensure, 1963-1982, found it
saved $5.1 billion in both medical
costs averted and in the prevention
of lost productivity.
A 1984 study of the savings
resulted from the pertussis im
munizations revealed it saved $44
million in lifetime medical costs. A
1990 study of the Hib vaccine also
found it saved $207 million when
children were vaccinated at 18
months.
The United States Department of
Health and Human Services cites a
ratio of sl4 in long-term medical
savings for every $1 spent on im
munizations for the three diseases
measles, mumps and rubella.
The American Academy of Pedi
atrics concluded from its study that
the savings ratio for all vaccines
was sl2 in long-term medical sav
ings for every $1 spent on im
munization.
What Is Being Done
Throughout the country various
governmental, professional, civic
and charitable organizations are
taking it upon themselves to raise
awareness of the problem