Tetanus News and Research

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Tetanus is a severe, frequently fatal disease caused by an exotoxin produced by Clostridium tetani, a bacterium that is found in the environment. Tetanus is not transmitted from person to person. Rather, Clostridium tetani enters the body through an open wound, including lacerations, abrasions and puncture wounds. The toxin causes neuromuscular dysfunction, with rigidity and spasms of skeletal muscles. The muscle spasms usually start in the jaw (which is why the disease is sometimes called "lockjaw") and neck and may spread to many other muscles, leading to generalized paralysis.

New whooping cough vaccine for adolescents and adults

In the first study of its kind, researchers at Saint Louis University have demonstrated that immunization with a new vaccine could potentially prevent more than a million cases of pertussis (whooping cough) each year in adolescents and adults.

24 Oct 2005

Whooping cough vaccine 90 percent effective

A vaccine to protect adults and adolescents against illness due to Bordetella pertussis infection--or whooping cough--has proved more than 90 percent effective in a national, large-scale clinical study, according to research results published in this week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

12 Oct 2005

Vaccine against group B streptococcus

Common bacteria that live harmlessly in the gastrointestinal tract and vagina of 25 percent of women can become lethal if a newborn gets exposed to them during birth.

20 Sep 2005

Retinoic acid combined with PIC, a synthetic immunity booster, significantly elevates the immune system response to a tetanus shot

These results show that a natural product of vitamin A can have an important role in regulating immunity and, when administered along with PIC, might be a potentially powerful nutritional-immunological assist in vaccination."

12 Sep 2005

No link between multiple vaccinations and infections

Over the years many concerns have been raised about chilhood vacinations, and one concern has been that multiple vaccinations 'use up' the immune system, so children are unable to fight off other illnesses.

10 Aug 2005

Findings do not support the hypothesis of increased risk of nontargeted infectious disease hospitalization after childhood vaccination

New research does not support a belief that children receiving multiple vaccines increase their risk of hospitalization for a nontargeted infectious disease, according to a study in the August 10 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

9 Aug 2005

Steady upward climb in child vaccinations

According to U.S. health officials, a record high rate of 81 percent of toddlers 19 months to 3 years old are now getting vaccinated with the full recommended series.

27 Jul 2005

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2005

The adolescent birth rate has reached another record low, the death rate for children between ages 1 and 4 is the lowest ever, young children are more likely to receive their recommended immunizations, and fourth graders are scoring better in math, according to a yearly compendium of statistics from federal agencies concerned with children.

20 Jul 2005

Tetanus toxin may help fight depression, anxiety, anorexia and Parkinson's

A team of researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Institute of Neuroscience at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has discovered that tetanus toxin, which causes tetanus, could be extremely useful as a therapy against psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety and anorexia, and to slow the progress of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

14 Jun 2005

FDA approves whooping cough vaccine for adults

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given drug company Sanofi-Aventis approval to sell Adacel, a vaccine against whooping cough for people ages 11 to 64.

12 Jun 2005

Whooping cough vaccine may be introduced in New Zealand

The New Zealand's Ministry of Health has confirmed, as a whooping cough epidemic continues to sweep the country, that a new vaccine to control the spread of whooping cough may be introduced next year.

5 Jun 2005

New vaccine against whooping cough is effective in teens and adults

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has announced that a study to be published in the June 22/29 issue found that a new vaccine against whooping cough is effective in teens and adults, carriers of the contagious respiratory disease so dangerous to infants.

3 Jun 2005

Health Protection Agency publishes report on the benefits of vaccination to children's health

The Health Protection Agency today publishes its first national report on the current status of the UK’s universal vaccine programmes, which protect children against a range of childhood diseases including measles, mumps, rubella and meningitis.

23 May 2005

Fragile US vaccine system needs improvement

A comprehensive system of vaccine development in the U.S. resulted in a reduction of 87 to more than 99 percent in illness from ten vaccine-preventable diseases during the twentieth century. These dramatic successes should not be taken for granted, however, as the vaccine system now faces numerous challenges in manufacturing and development, according to a review article in the May/June issue of Health Affairs.

10 May 2005

Boostrix receives FDA approval as treatment for pertussis

GlaxoSmithKline today announced that its booster vaccine, Boostrix received approval from the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

3 May 2005

Whooping cough makes a comeback

The latest comeback in the health arena is whooping cough and experts are sufficiently concerned for the US government to approve the first whooping cough booster shot meant just for adolescents. The shot will be added to a booster shot against two other diseases, tetanus and diphtheria, that children already get sometime between ages 10 and 18.

3 May 2005

Protection against 12 different communicable diseases available for infants and toddlers

In recognition of National Infant Immunization Week (April 24, 2005 through April 30, 2005), the Nassau County Department of Health urges all parents to ensure that their infants and toddlers are fully protected from the following vaccine preventable diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza (meningitis), varicella (chickenpox), pneumococcal disease and influenza.

12 Apr 2005

Vaccine prevents deadly pneumonia in African children

Global health leaders today presented new research showing that vaccinating infants against Streptococcus pneumoniae -- a bacterium that causes deadly pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis -- could substantially reduce death and serious illness among children in the developing world. If used widely, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine could prevent hundreds of thousands of child deaths each year.

28 Mar 2005

Vaccine against pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease shows promise

A vaccine against pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease, a severe form of bacterial infection, can substantially reduce hospital admissions and improve the survival of children in developing countries, concludes a trial published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

28 Mar 2005

Vaccine for whooping cough in teens

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending the development of a vaccine to prevent the occurrence of pertussis (Whooping Cough) in adolescents.

15 Mar 2005