Today, November 2, 2009 marks the FIRST WORLD PNEUMONIA DAY!!
Passport Health wants to do their part in spreading the word about Pneumonia. All Passport Health
locations carry the Pneumonia vaccine on a regular basis.
Every 15 seconds, somewhere in the world, a child dies from pneumonia. That’s 5,500 child deaths every day, and a staggering 2 million child deaths every year from a preventable, treatable disease. Many of these deaths are preventable through vaccination and appropriate treatment. Now is the time to put knowledge into action to deliver these solutions to all children around the world.
Pneumococcal disease (Pneumonia) is generally caused by the Bacterium
Streptococcus Pneumoniae and it is the most common complication of the flu. Infection is acquired by direct person-to-person contact via respiratory droplets. Those at risk to contract Pneumonia include children under 5; adults older than 55; those with sickle cell disease and other blood diseases, diabetes, HIV, chronic renal (kidney) failure, cerebrospinal leaks and people with compromised immune systems.
Vaccines are a safe and effective tool for preventing pneumonia before it occurs. Vaccines against two of the main causes of life-threatening pneumonia– pneumococcus (
Streptococcus pneumoniae) and Hib (
Haemophilus influenzae b) – are used throughout the developed world. However, millions of children in developing countries still lack access to them.
Measles and
Pertussis (ie. whooping cough) vaccines can prevent infections that can lead to pneumonia as a complication.
Thanks to worldpneumoniaday.org and cdc.gov for the info for this
post.
