Immunization

By Submitted Article

submitted by Public Health Nurse, Kathy Wrath

Not so long ago, infectious diseases, now preventable through vaccine, were something that parents feared.

In the early to mid-1960's, an epidemic of rubella spread across North America, infecting approximately one out of every 10 pregnant women. As a result of maternal rubella, an estimated 20,000 children were born with a variety of serious health conditions including hearing loss, cardiac problems, vision loss and other evelopmental disabilities. This constellation of symptoms came to be known as congenital rubella syndrome. An estimated 37 percent of children who were reported to be deaf as a result of maternal rubella had one or more additional
handicapping conditions.

In 1983, an MMR vaccine program for all infants (immunizing against measles, mumps and rubella) was introduced in Canada. The average number of rubella cases reported decreased from approximately 5300 (1971-1992) to fewer than 30 cases per year between 1998-2004. Most outbreaks seen now are restricted to isolated clusters of unimmunized people.

When I entered nursing school in the early 1970's, I remember seeing many children who had congenital rubella syndrome. They were just entering the school system. It was a frightening thing to see, particularly the intense commitment required by family members who cared for these children (now adults) as many of the symptoms were severe.

Blind and deaf, often cognitively impaired, or treated as such..... all for the lack of a vaccine. We rarely see this in Canada now. We have the gift of MMR vaccine, unlike much of the world who cannot afford this advantage.

I also recall working in a northern nursing station in Saskatchewan during the mid-70's. We did not have a vaccine for haemophilus influenzae in those days. I cannot count the number of times the other nurse and I had to evacuate a child with haemophilus meningitis; running for the plane to catch it before it took off, knowing that there could not be another until daylight returned on those long winter nights; praying that the baby would not die in our arms.

As we "older" nurses retire, we must remember to pass on our memory of the communicable diseases that we so rarely see today. It is all too easy to forget the severity and heartbreak of these illnesses and the effects on family and community . . . and on those of us who cared for them.

Want to know more? For up-to-date information on vaccines, contact your local health unit or family doctor, or try these websites: 
* Canadian Pediatric Society (www.cps.ca); 
* Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness and Promotion
(www.immunize.cpha.ca);
* Health Canada (www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/index.html)
* BC Health Guide (www.bchealthguide.org)
* ImmunizeBC (www.immunizebc.ca)

Help protect your loved ones and your community! Ensuring your child's shots, as well as your own, are up to date keeps your family and others safe from devastating disease.


Kathy Wrath
Public Health Nurse
Northern Health


    

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