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Pneumonia Vaccine for Swine Flu?
Kudos to the reader that asked this question. It's very insightful and shows you're thinking about this swine flu outbreak logically.
"Dr. Smith, Since a complication of swine flu (and other flu) is pneumonia, shouldn't we all be getting the pneumonia vaccine? Wouldn't having protection from pneumococcal pneumonia help you if you did contract the swine flu? Is this type of pneumonia what is killing some swine flu victims?"
You're right in that bacterial pneumonia is often one of the main things that kills people who have the flu (about 36,000 people die from the flu every year). Sometimes that bacteria is pneumococcus. Sometimes it's other bacteria, like staphylococcus. The pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine (more commonly known as just the pneumonia vaccine) would help if it's pneumococcus.
However, many of those that have died from swine flu have died from viral pneumonia. This means that the swine flu virus itself is causing the lung infection and inflammation. Unfortunately, a pneumococcal vaccine wouldn't have helped in these instances.
Those of you who have kept up with my blog know that I'm a very big proponent of the flu vaccine. Same is true for the pneumonia vaccine. Both save lives.
So who should get the pneumonia vaccine?
"Dr. Smith, Since a complication of swine flu (and other flu) is pneumonia, shouldn't we all be getting the pneumonia vaccine? Wouldn't having protection from pneumococcal pneumonia help you if you did contract the swine flu? Is this type of pneumonia what is killing some swine flu victims?"
You're right in that bacterial pneumonia is often one of the main things that kills people who have the flu (about 36,000 people die from the flu every year). Sometimes that bacteria is pneumococcus. Sometimes it's other bacteria, like staphylococcus. The pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine (more commonly known as just the pneumonia vaccine) would help if it's pneumococcus.
However, many of those that have died from swine flu have died from viral pneumonia. This means that the swine flu virus itself is causing the lung infection and inflammation. Unfortunately, a pneumococcal vaccine wouldn't have helped in these instances.
Those of you who have kept up with my blog know that I'm a very big proponent of the flu vaccine. Same is true for the pneumonia vaccine. Both save lives.
So who should get the pneumonia vaccine?
Currently, it is recommended for:
- All adults 65 or older
- Everyone 2 and older with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, chronic lung, heart, kidney or liver disease, or alcoholism
- People over 2 whose immune systems have been weakened by such conditions as cancer or HIV infection
- People without a functioning spleen
- People with sickle cell disease
2 Comments:
Thank you Dr. Smith. I now wonder about the Hib vaccination as well. For those of us who are older and who were not vaccinated against H. flu as a child, are we susceptible to this type of pneumonia secondary to fighting off influenza? In reading the novel, "The Great Influenza" by John Barry, about the 1918 Influenza epidemic with H1N1, there is much discussion about the physicians isolating "Pfeiffer's bacillus" (H. flu as we know it now) from the victims as being the cause of death in alot of cases. Would the Hib vaccination offer protection against a secondary pneumonia from Hemophilus if the swine flu becomes more virulent/prevalent this fall?
From your initial answer, I will advise my 22 year old daughter to get the pneumonia vaccine. SHe was never diagnosed with asthma, but falls in the "reactive airways" category - close enough for me to feel she should get the pneum. vaccine. She already gets the flu shot yearly. ANd she already had the Hib at 2 years of age. But I may seek both vaccines too, unless you advise that adults have a natural immunity against H. flu? THANKS!
after i had pneumonia on my 25th birthday i found out about the pneumonia shot, and since i tend to get it about every year i went to my regular walk-in clinic and practically begged him for the pneumonia vaccine, he finally gave in. i had my flu shot last year as well and i haven't had pneumonia since. i recently had a lung infection and it was pretty bad , the er didn't do x-rays but i'm pretty sure it didn't reach the pneumonia stage. it may have. but i really think those two shots have helped me a lot. but now everyone is talking about how bad the flu shot is for you and it causes cancer further on down the line and the swine flu vaccine could kill more people then the flu. im pregnant and i dont know what to do! even worse i don't know what to do for my 4 yr old son. we just stay home 24/7. its sad.
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