Experts asked the community to keep the vaccination card up to date, from pregnancy and the first months of life. Both pathologies are serious and can be fatal.
So far this year, five cases of whooping cough and four of meningitis have been confirmed in the province, two diseases that can be prevented with vaccines.
Public health experts asked to be attentive to vaccination schedules from pregnancy and the first months of life.
According to the report published last Tuesday from the General Directorate of Epidemiological Coordination of the Ministry of Public Health of Salta, last week four of the five cases of whooping cough or whooping cough were registered.
Meningitis is inflammation of the fluid and membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. It is “a very serious disease, which affects the nervous system, which always requires hospitalization and invasive procedures, with a high probability that the person will be left with sequelae and even die,” explained the head of the Immunization Program, Adriana Jure. .
There are some types of meningoencephalitis that are preventable with vaccines, such as those caused by haemophilus, pneumococcus, and meningococcus. These are applied from two or three months of age and are repeated several times afterwards.
Haemophilus was, before vaccination, the most common cause of meningitis, pneumonia, and otitis in young children. Since then, this has “decreased dramatically,” Jure said. She clarified that neither the disease nor the vaccine gives immunity forever.
The director of Epidemiology, Francisco García Campos, mentioned that the notification of meningitis is mandatory in the face of clinical suspicion without the need for the case to be confirmed.
Whooping cough or whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can be very serious, especially in babies and children, who are at higher risk of complications and death.
This is prevented from the mother’s pregnancy, with the application of the acellular triple bacterial vaccine, from the fifth month or 20 weeks of gestation. After the baby is born, this is given at 2, 4, 6 and 15 months. At age 11, it is applied again.
“Deaths from whooping cough decreased by more than 90% after vaccinating pregnant women,” said Jure, considering that “it is important that everyone who receives the vaccine is immunized, since this reduces the transmission of the bacterium”.
“The general recommendation for children is that they have the full vaccination schedule,” said García Campos, and Jure insisted: “Vaccination is the most important prevention message for these diseases.” He clarified that, even if a child is exclusively breastfed and has all the necessary care, he must be vaccinated.
He commented that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many immunization schedules were delayed and said that these can be recovered, with some exceptions. He asked to “try not to fall behind.”