Pneumonia

My Immunology class vaccination projects are coming up pretty soon. We, myself and two other students, were given several different topics to choose from but to narrow it down we each chose a popular topic. The topic I chose was Pneumonia. My task was to research the Pneumonia disease, its vaccine development and regulation in the U.S., and the advantages and disadvantages of the vaccine for the disease. Within this blog are some of the things that I found through research!

What is Pneumonia?

Pneumonia is abnormal inflammation of the parenchyma of the lung. It is a lung infection caused by Pneumococcus bacterium.It is a common illness that often occurs in elderly, chronically or terminally ill, and young children under the age of 5. Because there are different types of pneumonia that exist, there are also different vaccines.

"There are more than 80 different types of pneumococcus bacteria-23 of these are covered in the current vaccination."http://www.medicinenet.com/pneumococcal_vaccination/article.htm

How is the vaccine developed?

There are 2 different specific types of vaccine developed and each one is recommended for specific age groups. One type is the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) which contains the 23 serotypes is recommended for adults and those with various risk factors. The other type is the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine which is recommended for those from infant age to about 5 years of age. Both vaccines are made from killed bacteria. Immunization Action Coalition, Vaccine Information,http://www.vaccineinformation.org/pneumchild/qandavax.asp.

Side effects

Some have had swelling or soreness at the location of the shot, less than 1% have had fever with muscle pain (The Foundation for Better Health Care, "Pneumonia Prevention: It's worth a shot")

Should the develpoment of this vaccine continue?

In my opinion I think that the vaccine should continue to be developed but only as much is needed. Seeing that the side effects are very small and that the shot may last up to 10 years, I say why not continue to produce it. It allows a way to prevent infection of particular bacteria with out harm to the patient. Having the vaccine will not cause any serious danger so why not have it?