 |
Infants
Vaccines
|
Meningococcal
Vaccine
Between 2,400 and 3,000 persons in the U.S. get
meningococcal disease each year. About half develop meningitis, and
the rest contract other systemic forms of this infection. Among
people of all ages in the U.S., this comes to an annual rate of about
1 per 100,000-which is relatively low compared to, for example, the
overall pneumococcal disease rate of 23 per 100,000. However,
meningococcal disease warrants our attention because its effects are
so severe.
This
information is excerpted from the book Vaccinating Your Child:
Questions and Answers for the Concerned Parent (Peachtree
Publishers, Ltd., 2000). The book's authors are Dr. Sharon G.
Humiston, a pediatrician and clinical researcher at the CDC and the
University of Rochester, and Cynthia Good, an award-winning
journalist and host of the television show "Good for
Parents".
|
