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Expert Gives Advice On Children And Flu Shots
Jet, Nov 22, 1999
For all the beauty that comes with the fall of the autumn season, there is one unwanted beast that descends upon us at this time of the year, making us miserable with sore throats, chills and fever, muscle aches and congestion.
The dreaded influenza virus, or flu, for short.
For parents, the thought of children suffering from a bout with the flu and parents themselves missing work to care for sick kids is incentive enough to get children vaccinated. But should you?
The answer, at least for most children, is "no" informs Dr. Nancy Snyderman in her online column at drkoop.com. Government agencies don't recommend flu shots for all children because most children are not at high risk of complications from the flu.
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There are certain exceptions to this general advice however. Medical experts advise that children get vaccinated only if they are older than six months and any of the following applies:
* asthma or other chronic lung conditions
* heart disease, chronic kidney disease or sickle cell anemia
* diabetes or other metabolic diseases
* HIV infection
* taking aspirin therapy
* taking medications that weaken the immune system.
Dr. Snyderman adds that you might also want to get a child vaccinated who is in frequent contact with someone who has any of the above conditions, or who is frail or elderly, since those people--even if they have been vaccinated--are still at risk of catching the flu from an unvaccinated child and developing complications.
Some parents may also want to consider getting flu shots for their children if it means that taking off a week or more from work to nurse a sick child back to health could pose a financial hardship for the family.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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