Re: DP - Diptheria

[Guest guest]

Guy,

As a mom of four kids here in the US the vaccination " DP " was probably one of

the combos of Diptheria, Pertussis(whooping cough), Tetnus. Usually as

children they recieve the DTP shot series and then afterwards the tetnus is

the only thing requiring boosters every 7-10 years. The shots are usually

combined together so as to eliminate the number of shots given but the

vaccinations can be a mix and match type thing according to which ones you

need.

Here's some info about Diptheria:

" Approximately 1200 deaths per year have resulted from the ongoing diphtheria

epidemic in the former Soviet Union which began in 1990 and is still going

strong. Diphtheria can be a very serious infection. Even if patients with

diphtheria are treated correctly, 5-10% die! Fortunately, for us diptheria is

very rare in the United States; only 41 people have contracted it in the

United States in the past 15 years.

Diptheria is normally an infection of the throat caused by a bacterium,

Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The bacteria grow in our throats and produce a

protein. This protein causes our cells to die by stopping protein production

by our cells. This bacterial protein is called diphtheria toxin.

The first symptom of infection is very sore throat. A lot of swelling can

also occur in the patient's neck region (the Bull-neck appearance). When the

cells in the patient's throat die , a grayish membrane forms that can

sometimes close off their throat and prevent air from getting into the

patient's lungs. This is a bad thing! The toxin also can get in our

bloodstream and cause heart damage, which is the most common cause of death

in diphtheria patients.

This infection is so rare in the United States because we vaccinate our

children to prevent this disease. It is part of the vaccine called DTP that

we get when we are infants. Unfortunately, if we ever stop vaccinating our

children the disease will comeback. When the Soviet Union's " Iron Curtain "

fell in 1989 the health care system also suffered tremendously. As a result,

the citizens did not get their shots. Within a very short period of time

diphtheria began to occur again. "

Just as a side note, we have had a large influx of immigrants from eastern

Europe here in our city of Federal Way. Many of these children have not had

their immunizations done and are then having to catch up on this to continue

in school. Also, some of them enroll in school not knowing a single word of

english. I have been helping out in the 1st grade classroom with some of

these Russian children and I can see how extremely difficult it is to teach

them to read. There is no one at home who can read with them or even help

with homework. Once they get a basic understanding of english, they catch on

very quickly.

Shelli