<p>The meningococcal vaccine was felt to be efficacious for 10 years at least, which would take teens/young adults through the high risk years. However, as we started to give the vaccine to younger kids (now at 11; hopefully someday even younger), there were worries about the immunity waning, thus the newer recommendation for a booster. Two doses are felt to easily give 10-20 years of immunity, getting kids with two doses age eleven and above excellent rates of protection through the high school/college/military training years. After that the risk of meningococcal disease drops for adults/older adults/elderly. Most vaccines we use are not predicated on mutation of the pathogen, except for the yearly influenza vaccine. That is, I believe it’s felt that the waning of immunity is more due to a lessening of the anamnestic response (the “remembering”) of the immune system and its subsequent actions (making antibodies) than any mutation of the pathogen, esp wrt bacteria.</p>
<p>^^^^Your body actually “remembers” pathogens quite well in through the action of acquired immune system. In particular when exposed to a pathogen for the first time memory T- cells and memory B cells will be formed (in addition to cytotoxic T-cells, phagocytes, Natural Killer Cells and the activation of the complement pathway which does the actual “fighting” of the pathogen). After the disease is destroyed will lie dormant until they are re-exposed to the disease. In that situation they quickly recognize the cell surface markers on the pathogens and quickly activate the immune system. This kind of “anamnestic response” does not wear off easily, since you only need a small number of these pathogen specific memory T and B cells in your body to alert you immune system to the re exposure of the same pathogen which allows for the production of new antibodies that specifically target the pathogen. The problem is that when the bacteria or virus has changed to a certain degree in the interim between the first and second exposure (particularly the cell surface proteins that are targeted by the helper-T cells and helper B- cells) the acquired immune system will not recognize the pathogen and thus will respond to it as a novel disease, hence the vaccine appears to wear off. However if you were to inject the person with the exact same strain of the pathogen which they were initially vaccinated against they would likely still be immune to it.</p>
<p>True. I thought you were saying that the pathogen mutated enough that the vaccine needed to be new, which isn’t the case. The vaccines themselves don’t change, except for the flu vaccine.It’s a boost to the degree of the anamnestic response, not a change to the quality of it.</p>
<p>What I was trying to say was that I believe the introduction of the vaccine into her system caused the otherwise dormant virus to become active. And I’m worried that the meningitis one will do the same thing. </p>
<p>In both instances, a day or two after receiving the flu vaccine, she became extremely ill. We thought it was just flu like symptoms from the vaccine, but both times it was mono. </p>
<p>I thought that her body’s reaction to the foreign substance set off something. Just an uneducated theory.</p>
<p>We had our D get this (it was available after S no longer lived in dorm so he never got it). We also had get gardisal vaccine and are glad we did. Have tried to convince S to get it, but no luck so far.</p>
<p>@ sydsim </p>
<p>If you think your child has adverse affects to certain vaccines you should consult your family doctor. CC is probably not the best place to get this sort of advice.</p>
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<p>The thing that struck me as most bogus about the movie Contagion was that it showed people becoming immune immediately after being injected with the new vaccine. In reality a vaccine takes a minimum of two weeks for a significant immune responee to develop, sometimes longer.</p>
<p>Agree that your kid’s md is best place to evaluate pro vs con of particular shots. For our kids, their md ordered them to stop getting flu shots because they would always get sick for 3+ weeks after each dose, even when it was split into 2 doses to lessen side effects.</p>
<p>Coureur-- but all you had to do was take some blood from a monkey, make it into a cure and inject it into your dad, lol!! Not plausible? Wha?? I think the movie, laughable science aside, did do a good job showing how something could go global quickly. The book “Spillover” gives chilling examples in real life with good science. Yikes.</p>
<p>Definitely get vaccinated! Herd immunity is essential to keeping everyone safe and healthy, for the most part. Especially with diseases like meningitis. Not everyone at college (or in general) will be able to get shots because of auto-immune disorders, other diseases, etc. so it’s up to the healthy members of society to make sure they do their part to make sure illnesses don’t spread too much.</p>
<p>(Just my little rant from someone who had to rely on herd immunity for a while…)</p>
<p>I was actually trying to see if others on CC would chime in and say that they had heard of or experienced anything like this before. I probably shouldn’t have phrased the post as a question for advice, but instead should have asked if anyone else had seen anything like this before. </p>
<p>Lots of posters put out feelers on message boards because even though you may talk to one MD, talking to thousands of other people around the world may yield info that the MD isn’t privvy to. </p>
<p>Oh, and I’ve been an RN for over twenty-five years, so I do know a little bit about what medical advice to take. ;)</p>
<p>I have never had the chicken pox either, and I never received a vaccine. I got exposed the old-fashioned way, to other children, back in the day, and am totally immune. My kids got chicken pox - from a newly vaccinated kid - so my doctor titred me because I was over 40. </p>
<p>My Mother was also immune, and never had the chicken pox either. I think trying to vaccinate away everything is backfiring personally, leading to more and more vaccines for kids, with no better health results. </p>
<p>It’s something I think about on a regular basis.</p>
<p>No better health results? We have almost vanquished polio worldwide. Measles deaths also. Congenital Rubella syndrome is unheard of. Meningitis, which used to be a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in kids (esp deafness), is now a rarity. Chicken pox deaths are almost unheard of (not true in the pre-vaccine era though run of the mill cpox is not usually serious). A vaccine could prevent CANCER–that’s amazing. Rotavirus vaccine will prevent thousands of deaths in the developing world, where diarrhea can spell disaster. Really? Really???</p>
<p>Yes, really. Polio rates were dropping before the vaccine, by the way, as were other rates I saw on a bell curve (that I can find). If you believe that “no measles or rubella” is the standard measuring child health, then I guess by that standard you are correct. But what about everything else that is going wrong? They are fatter than ever before, have autism at tremendous rates, are sicker than ever with ongoing illnesses and unbelievable life-threatening allergies, they have heart disease, and liver disease, and all kinds of other ailments being reported at very young ages. It’s unprecedented. </p>
<p>My point is that something is very, very wrong and it concerns me.</p>
<p>At any rate, a snippet from here (I guess there is no way to insert it): [Children</a> Sicker Now Than in Past, Harvard Report Says (Update1) - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>June 26 (Bloomberg) – The number of American children with chronic illnesses has quadrupled since the time when some of their parents were kids, portending more disability and higher health costs for a new generation of adults, a study estimates. </p>
<p>An almost fourfold increase in childhood obesity in the past three decades, twice the asthma rates since the 1980s, and a jump in the number of attention-deficit disorder cases are driving the growth of chronic illnesses, according to researchers at Harvard University in Boston. The report is published in a themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association focusing on children’s health. </p>
<p>Doctors and public health officials should be bracing for a wave of chronically ill young adults with weight-related ailments that include diabetes and heart disease. In 1960, just 1.8 percent of U.S. children and adolescents were reported to have a chronic health condition that limited their activities. In 2004, the rate rose to 7 percent, researchers said. </p>
<p><code>We will see much greater expenditures for people in their 20s than we ever saw before, and no one is thinking how we should prepare for that,‘’ said James Perrin, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the report’s lead author, in an interview.</code>We call it an epidemic. It’s certainly worrisome and we look at it as a call to action.‘’ </p>
<p>The journal’s reports also included findings that family-based weight-management programs work best, that white children have the highest rate of diabetes, that childhood cancer survivors face risks for serious health problems when they become adults, and that children with serious illness are more likely to die at home than in 1989.</p>
<p>Your post implied that vaccination did not improve health. That is untrue. Your discussion of other child health issues (all of which are important, yes) has no relation to vaccination rates, practices or advances.</p>
<p>Smallpox was erradicated by vaccination</p>
<p>sydsim - YES, I have experienced this with my own daughter. (flu vaccine, immediately followed by very ill with mono). Her junior year of high school.</p>
<p>I know it seems crazy, and all the science and the doctors say not only is it unlikely, but it just is not possible, but that gnawing mom instinct just won’t go away that something was going on in her body prior to the flu shot that, when combined with the shot, brought on the mono. I know, I know, it isn’t possible, but still…</p>
<p>However, my D did get the meningitis vaccine (twice, in fact, once for her first sleepaway camp, and again prior to leaving for college) and she did not get at all sick. She did get sick after another flu shot last year, but not mono again.</p>
<p>And I should add, for purposes of the original intent of this thread, that I think getting the meningitis vaccine for departing college students is absolutely crucial.</p>
<p>D just finished filing out her immunization form for grad school. She had to either give the date of her most recent meningitis immunization OR certify that she had read information regarding the disease and the risks of skipping immunization and nonetheless was foregoing immunization. (She got her meningitis booster today.) Interestingly, the form required MMR immunization. Maybe someone can explain why there is greater laxity for the meningitis vaccine under New York State law.</p>
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<p>With so many vaccine refusers around, herd immunity is effectively broken, so there is also a strong selfish reason to get the vaccine, since there is more of a risk that a sick vaccine refuser will give you some disease you really do not want.</p>
<p>Different states have different laws that just reflect the zeitgeist of the state, I guess. Vaccines can be deferred in many states as a religious waiver, and some states have a waiver for “philosophical objection”. The latter is a huge loophole that is closing in some places, though.</p>