Backpack? Check! Books? Covered! Vaccines? It’s that time again. August means parents and their kids are focused on back-to-school.

While the implements of learning are a big part of that, so are the tools that will help keep students safe from illness while they are learning and interacting with hundreds of their peers.

August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and in the next few weeks, we will be taking a look at how people need vaccines during all stages of their lives, from infanthood to old age.

Because school will be back in session soon, though, we’re going to start with kids who are around ages 5 through early adulthood.

But first, let’s talk about the importance of vaccines. Just think, thanks to a vaccine, most Americans today do not worry about getting polio and having to live their lives in a wheelchair—or an iron lung—because of it.

Smallpox, a disease that could scar and blind its victims—if it didn’t kill them—was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980.

And illnesses such as chickenpox and measles are no longer considered rites of passage for kids but are still around and pop up in outbreaks among those who remain unvaccinated.

That’s why vaccinations are so important. Last winter saw an especially bad flu season; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, 178 children died during the 2017-18 flu season from the illness.

Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B are on the rise, especially in West Virginia. Vaccines provide protection against both of those diseases. Human papillomavirus is usually harmless, but it can lead to several different types of cancer in both women and men. Meningitis, a potentially deadly disease, can often attack those in group settings, such as college dorms or sports teams. There are vaccines that can prevent certain types of both bacterial and viral meningitis.

Plus, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, also known as whooping cough, are still real threats that can lead to a variety of dangerous symptoms.

The CDC offers an easy-to-read guide on vaccinations that babies should receive from infanthood to the age of 6. These are the mandated vaccines that the state of West Virginia requires students to get in order to attend public school.

For children who have been vaccinated according to the current schedule, here is a list provided by the CDC of recommended vaccines for students between the ages of 7 and 18:

•    All preteens and teens need a flu vaccine every year. Some children 6 months through 8 years of age require two doses of flu vaccine. Children 6 months through 8 years getting vaccinated for the first time, and those who have only previously gotten one dose of vaccine, should get two doses of vaccine this season. The first dose should be taken as soon as the flu vaccine is available, and the second dose should be received at least 28 days after the first dose. In following years, only one dose is needed.

In addition to an annual flu vaccine, three vaccines are recommended specifically for preteens:

•    HPV vaccine protects against HPV infections that can cause cancer later in life, including cervix, for which women can be routinely screened, as well as mouth/throat, anus/rectum, penis, vagina, or vulva, for which people are not routinely screened.

•    Tdap is a booster shot to help protect preteens from whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria. Tdap not only protects the child from these diseases, but also keeps them from giving whooping cough to a young baby who does not have immunity yet.

•    Meningococcal conjugate vaccine protects against meningitis, and bloodstream infections (bacteremia or septicemia). These illnesses can be very serious, even fatal.

If you haven’t gotten your child vaccinated yet, there is still time. Call your health care provider. Or make an appointment at Monongalia County Health Department’s Clinical Services at 304-598-5119. We are currently holding back-to-school vaccine clinics. Call us to find out more!

Your adorable and adored tabby cat is basking in the sun on your porch. Suddenly, an aggressive raccoon staggers across the lawn and onto the porch. A tussle ensues. Fur flies and hissing permeates the air. When all is said and done, Fluffy might have a scratch or a bite. The raccoon is shot and tested for rabies, and the results are positive. What do you do?

If Fluffy is up to date on her rabies vaccine, she will be given a rabies booster and you can observe her for 45 days to make sure she is OK.

If Fluffy is not current on her rabies vaccine, health officials will recommend that your beloved pet be euthanized. If you’ve seen “Cujo,” about a lovable St. Bernard turned savage beast after he is bitten by a rabid bat, you know why.

While that might have been an exaggeration of the effects of this viral disease on an animal, it’s still a horrible way for a pet to die, with advanced symptoms that include delirium, abnormal behavior and hallucinations. Not to mention that before that happens, the pet could spread rabies to you or your family.

If you don’t have Fluffy euthanized, you will be required to keep her in strict quarantine for six months—or until she exhibits signs of rabies, at which point she would be put down—in a double cage with no human contact other than the owner. Think solitary confinement. (Or “Old Yeller”). It’s expensive, time-consuming and a really awful experience for Fluffy.

Give those choices, making sure your pets have been routinely vaccinated for rabies seems like the obvious and much easier voice. Plus, it’s the law. In West Virginia, household pets such as dogs, cats and ferrets must be vaccinated for rabies. Although not required, it is also highly recommended for other animals such as horses and cows, because all mammals can become infected and die from rabies.

Rabies has been an issue in West Virginia now for nearly 40 years, and it’s in the forefront again with recent confirmed cases of raccoons that have approached pets on private property. So far, there have been six confirmed cases of rabies in Monongalia County in 2018, in numbers collected by MCHD and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services based in Elkins.

The disease wasn’t found much in the state until raccoons were imported from Florida for the purposes of hunting in the late 1970s. Ever since then, health officials from the USDA have struggled to keep raccoon rabies at bay with bait that is dropped from helicopters. Raccoons that eat the bait are inoculated against the disease. The next round of bait drops is scheduled to take place in a couple of weeks, although it will happen mostly west of Monongalia County.

Here at Monongalia County Health Department, we also work to prevent rabies in the community. Registered sanitarians in our Environmental Health program conduct rabies surveillance. For instance, if we get a call from someone who has been bitten by a dog or cat, the sanitarian works to evaluate the animal to determine if the person who was bitten should seek medical care to prevent infection from rabies.

Rabies is transmitted in saliva, so if you or a family member is bitten or scratched by an unknown, unvaccinated animal or one that is behaving strangely, either domestic or wild, wash the wound immediately and seek medical attention. The doctor will work in conjunction with MCHD to determine appropriate treatment.

If you have a more pressing animal situation, you can call MECCA 911. If it’s about an unknown animal on your property acting strangely, or a bat in your house, call MECCA’s non-emergency number at 304-599-6382. If you or someone in your family is bitten by a wild or unknown animal, call MECCA 911.

As MCHD’s regional epidemiologist Dr. Diane Gross has noted, animals most commonly found to be rabid in West Virginia tend to be raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes. A bat found in a room where someone has been sleeping can be especially troublesome because that can make it more difficult to determine if the person has been bitten or scratched. That is enough to transmit rabies. It’s also a good reason to examine your home for any holes or openings where wild animals can get in and repair those.

And it’s also a good reason to make sure that your pets are up to date on their rabies vaccinations. With rabies, prevention is everything, because once the disease develops, there is not a cure.

It’s that time of year again. While vaccines are important year-round, we focus on them in August for a couple of reasons. Back-to-school means inoculations for students. Flu season is right around the corner. And August is National Immunization Awareness Month.

Because people need vaccines throughout their lives, from infancy to old age, there is a lot of ground to cover. There are five Wednesdays this August, so we will take this time to review who needs which vaccines and when. Next week, we'll go over which vaccines students need before returning to school.

Adolescents and teenagers need many vaccines to protect against serious and fatal diseases like polio. Adults need to stay up-to-date on boosters and some other vaccines to protect them from illnesses such as shingles and pneumonia. Women need to be up-to-date on their vaccines, especially if they plan on becoming pregnant. And anyone who will be coming into close contact with a young baby should get a Tdap vaccine to protect against pertussis, or whooping cough.

Because of vaccines, children are protected against 14 major diseases by the time they are 2. Many of these diseases have been nearly eliminated in the United States thanks to vaccines, which are rigorously tested and monitored for side effects.

However, anyone who is unvaccinated against serious diseases like mumps, polio or measles still can contract them. So, it is very important that children are immunized as soon as possible. In West Virginia, it is estimated that more than one-third of children between 19 and 35 months old do not have all their necessary vaccinations. This is in spite of the fact that West Virginia is one of only three states that does not allow parents to skip on vaccinations for their kids because of personal belief if they plan to enroll their children in public school.

As people get older, they tend to forget about the importance of vaccines. Many adults end up skipping out on getting their yearly flu vaccine, as well as their Tdap boosters. Not everyone realizes that some vaccines are only effective for so many years. They figure that because they got them as a child, they won’t need to worry about it again. Other people decide not to get them because they assume that harmful diseases vaccines protect against aren’t as prevalent anymore.

But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been more than 200 cases of measles in the United States in the past two years. While measles isn’t very common in the U.S., it is still in other countries. Travelers who are unvaccinated can catch measles and inadvertently bring it back to their communities back home. If that community happens to be one where many people are unvaccinated, then the disease can spread like wildfire.

So, getting your vaccines is very important, even if you don’t think there’s a good chance you’ll run into any serious diseases. Another good reason to stay up-to-date on vaccinations is the concept of herd immunity. The more people that become vaccinated, the less a disease can spread. This is especially important for some people who are unable to get vaccines, such as those with allergies to them.

For instance, many adults skip out on the flu vaccine and because of this, many more people can get sick. The flu causes between 140,000 and 710,000 hospitalizations every year, as well as between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths every year. Those who can’t get the flu vaccine for health reasons depend on others to get it so the spread of the virus is lessened.

There are also many misconceptions about the flu vaccine. Every year some people will complain that they still got the flu, despite getting the vaccine. This is because the flu vaccine has a different success rate every year depending on the strain. Because of this, many people will skip next year’s flu vaccine, thinking that they don’t work. But if you get the flu vaccine, the chance of coming down with influenza is reduced significantly.

All in all, vaccines are an important aspect throughout life, but many people will forget about staying up-to-date on them as they get older. It’s important to get vaccinated from a variety of illnesses in all stages of life.

Not very long ago, a woman was in a Morgantown business doing one of the most natural things in the world—breastfeeding her baby. She was shaken, however, when she was not only asked to leave the establishment, but also followed outside and asked to go even further away.

Breastfeeding counselors at Monongalia County Health Department’s WIC program jumped into action and thus was born the Breastfeeding Awareness Walk.

This year, the 11th event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1, which also happens to be the first day of both National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week. It is sponsored by MCHD WIC  and Monongalia County Breastfeeding Task Force.

Like the name states, the walk, which takes place at the WVU Erickson Alumni Center, raises awareness about what the folks who host World Breastfeeding Week selected as this year’s theme, “Foundation of Life.”

After all, it’s the basis of being a mammal. Just check Wikipedia. “Females of all mammal species nurse their young with milk, secreted from the mammary glands.”

Except it makes some humans feel uncomfortable. WIC counselors want to change that, and the Breastfeeding Awareness Walk is one method to convey to the public that not only is breastfeeding a completely natural part of the human experience, but it also provides both mother and baby with many benefits in addition to the obvious one of nutrition for the infant.

“It helps the baby’s immune system and gives them a healthier gut,” says Lynne Ryan, WIC’s breastfeeding coordinator.

For the mom, breastfeeding helps normalize her weight and the state of lactating releases hormones that are relaxing, which help her body readjust after going through a pregnancy, Ryan added.

WIC’s breastfeeding counselors talk to their pregnant clients to help them prepare for how to go about this loving task after their babies are born. WIC clients are pregnant and postpartum women and infants and children up to age 5 who meet generous income guidelines. But even women who are not WIC clients can attend free breastfeeding classes, which take place in Monongalia County on the first and third Wednesday of the month at 4 p.m. and the second Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Preparation for breastfeeding is important, Ryan noted. In addition to teaching about the actual act of getting the baby to latch onto mom’s breast and feed, Ryan and her colleagues provide handy tips and advice. That includes breastfeeding in public, because some women might feel uneasy about it, at least at first.

“It’s a learned skill, to nurse in public,” Ryan said.

It also might be helpful for nursing mothers to know that not only is it perfectly natural to breastfeed in public, it’s also state law. Legislation that went into effect June 6, 2014 affirmed a woman’s right to breastfeed anywhere in public.

Knowing that the law is on her side helps embolden a new mother, Ryan said. So does helpful advice, such as figuring out what to wear to provide easy access for the baby. Mothers also might want to consider where they breastfeed, perhaps selecting a booth in a restaurant instead of the center of a room. “The more confident a woman gets, the less people notice her,” Ryan added.

Another tip: If a mother can tell that her baby is showing interest in feeding, it’s better to start sooner rather than after the baby starts to cry and everyone starts looking their way.

About 54 percent of MCHD’s WIC moms at least give breastfeeding a shot, Ryan said. This number is up from 13 percent before more WIC breastfeeding counselors were added in 1991. “The number has climbed and climbed,” Ryan said.

Counselors also work with each pregnant woman’s situation. However, when expectant mothers tell Ryan that they don’t want to breastfeed in public and instead plan to pump and bottle feed their babies while out in the world, Ryan tells them that it doesn’t usually work that way.

“If you go out for four hours and the baby is feeding every two hours, if you don’t feed, your breasts are going to get more and more engorged, and that’s the set-up for a breast infection,” she said. “The two things need to happen together. They don’t understand it until they are living it.”

The Breastfeeding Awareness Walk is designed to help both mothers and expectant mothers feel more comfortable with this natural way to feed and bond with a baby, as well as educate the public.

Ryan still hears stories about women being asked to leave a business because of breastfeeding, and she wants that to change.

“I’d love to have a story where someone goes up to a mother and says, ‘You are doing such a good job. That’s a happy, healthy baby.’ If only that would make the news.”

Doors open at 4:30 p.m., with a diaper derby at 5 p.m., the walk at 5:30 p.m., and refreshments and activities at 6 p.m. For more information about the MCHD WIC Breastfeeding Awareness Walk, which is free and open to the public, call (304) 598-5181.

World Hepatitis Day showcases disease that affects 325m around the globe
 

Hepatitis has been in the news a lot lately. Health officials have known for several years now that just having been born between 1945 and 1965 puts individuals at a greater risk for Hepatitis C.

With the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation that has hit West Virginia especially hard, both Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C have been in the news lately. Although there are several ways to get each disease, sharing needles is one of them. Hepatitis B, and less often, Hepatitis C, can also be spread by having sexual contact with an infected person. West Virginia has the highest incidence—rate per 100,000 residents—in the United States of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

And now southern West Virginia is dealing with a Hepatitis A outbreak that started in California. Monongalia County Health Department has provided Hep A vaccines to certain populations who may be at risk for the illness in an effort to keep the outbreak away from this area.

Hepatitis A is different than Hep B and Hep C in that it’s spread mainly through oral-fecal contact or through the consumption of contaminated water or food. That’s why people who live in unsanitary conditions are at greater risk, and thorough handwashing after using the bathroom is of vital importance when it comes to fighting this illness.

July 28 is World Hepatitis Day, which was launched in 2007 by the World Hepatitis Alliance. It’s a great time to learn about this disease, how to avoid it, how to get tested for it and how to treat it. Furthermore, MCHD’s Clinical Services program has teamed up with the West Virginia University School of Nursing to conduct a Hepatitis Clinic on Fridays. Clients can be tested and then also receive care, guidance and referrals for additional treatment.

Let’s start by going over what hepatitis is. It’s a disease that affects the liver. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all hepatitis viruses can cause inflammation of the liver. Chronic Hepatitis B virus and chronic Hepatitis C virus can lead to liver disease, liver failure and even liver cancer. Viral hepatitis is a major global health threat with around 325 million people living with chronic Hepatitis B or C virus.

But there is good news. Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B are both vaccine-preventable. Hepatitis A, the CDC notes, does not result in chronic infection. Most adults with hepatitis A have symptoms that include fatigue, low appetite, stomach pain, nausea and jaundice that usually resolve within two months of infection; most children less than 6 years of age do not have symptoms or have an unrecognized infection. Antibodies produced in response to Hepatitis A infection last for life and protect against reinfection.

Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, on the other hand, can be acute infections for some people, but for others, they can turn into long-term chronic diseases. Like Hepatitis A, there is a vaccine that prevents Hepatitis B. There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C, but there is a cure. It’s very expensive; MCHD Clinical Services’ Hepatitis Clinic can help navigate insurance for the medication.

Because it’s World Hepatitis Day, we also can focus on the situation around the globe. It’s estimated that 300 million people are living with viral hepatitis without even knowing about it. That’s why this year’s theme is “Find the Missing Millions,” calling upon the global community to raise awareness so those who need treatment can get it while also identifying ways to stay healthy and prevent the disease.

The worldwide statistics are daunting. Hepatitis causes 1.34 million deaths each year and causes two out of three liver cancer deaths.

Here in West Virginia, we’re doing our part to identify and treat hepatitis. The CDC website has extensive information on how to prevent hepatitis, which include, as we mentioned, safe sex practices and not sharing needles to avoid Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, and by emphasizing cleanliness and sanitary conditions to avoid Hepatitis A.

MCHD’s Hepatitis Clinic is held on Fridays. If you are interested in getting tested or learning more, call 304-598-5119 for an appointment.