Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, pertussis, cough on
Sep 01, 2010
Whooping cough is in the news again. In Michigan, health officials are urging vaccines as a way to stop the spread of the illness. And California has declared that the illness has now reached epidemic proportions in that state and shines the spotlight on this vaccine preventable illness.
I suspect that a large part of the reason for this eruption of illness in California is due to the large number of undocumented immigrants who cannot access
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines on
Sep 01, 2010
I got a little frustrated withe the health department recently when just a couple of months after the introduction of a new version of the Prevnar vaccine (which provides broader protection against more forms of bacterial infections that can cause meningitis, pneumonia and other diseases) they sent notices to many families with kids under 5 telling then they are overdue for this vaccine. Technically they are correct, but because every child
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, tics on
Sep 01, 2010
Children's behavior quirks can leave parents puzzled and troubled. Here's a question from a reader on tics and Tourette's syndrome:
Q: My son is 4 and ... he has tics, but my concern is it is not just tics and it's Tourette's. Is there any relation with tics/Tourette's and vaccines? Do you have any good articles or anywhere you can direct me with information on tics/Tourette's and toddlers?
A: I have done some digging to determine what, if any,
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, autism on
Sep 01, 2010
In the June issue of the journal Pediatrics, a great study is published that reinforces the safety of receiving vaccines on schedule during the first year of life.
Children were divided into groups depending on whether they received their immunizations following the standard schedule (receiving multiple vaccines at each well-child visit) or on a delayed schedule (receiving vaccines fewer at a time, spread out over time). Seven-10 years later, the
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, hpv on
Aug 31, 2010
Did you know that the FDA recently approved the Gardasil vaccine, which protects girls and women from cervical cancer, for teenage boys? Sounds crazy, but here's why it was a really good idea and why you should be encouraging your sons to get it.
Cervical cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus which has many strains. Some of the strains cause cancer and others cause warts. Boys and men who have sex, even if they use a condom, are at risk
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, prevention on
Aug 31, 2010
Starting last June after a teenager returned from a trip to the United Kingdom and unwittingly carried the mumps virus with him, infecting many of his summer camp friends, the illness has continued to spread. Located primarily in New York and New Jersey near New York City, more than 1,500 cases of mumps have been identified. Most of the kids with the infection are school aged and around 75 percent-85 percent were fully vaccinated.
This outbreak
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, pertussis on
Aug 31, 2010
Last week I had another child who had lab test-proven whooping cough.
This girl is 9 years old and fully vaccinated. She came into the office with a cough for about two weeks that just wasn't getting better. She didn't feel particularly sick and actually she felt fine unless she was having a coughing jag. The coughing jags were happening infrequently during the day, but during the night she would wake up at least two-three times coughing so hard
Oakland County has seen an increase in chicken pox cases reported - and this is no surprise given the decreasing rates of vaccination. Because it has been years (maybe since your own childhood) since you last saw anyone with chicken pox I thought it would be a good idea to remind you what to look for.
Varicella is the chicken pox virus. When I was a kid, practically everyone had the itchy, feverish illness before they were teenagers. Starting in
Over the last month, the number of kids I've seen in the office with flu-like symptoms has decreased dramatically. What a relief for families! The downside is that parents now feel blase about getting their kids under 10 the second H1N1 vaccine, a necessary step to ensure immunity.
Most parents aren't even asking me, they are just deciding to forgo the second shot. The few who are asking are reluctant to get it given the fact that the illness
Posted by: drmolly in vaccines, preservatives, mercury on
Jan 17, 2010
Several years ago mercury used as a preservative called thimerasol in vaccines came under attack as a possible cause of autism and because mercury can cause serious problems if consumed in excess it was removed.
The amount of mercury in the vaccines then was minuscule and much less than the amount we get eating some fish, but due to public concern despite a lack of science, thimerasol was removed. Since then many studies have looked at the
