KidsDirect

Where Children are our Priority

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      • Breast Milk vs. Formula Chart
      • Common Breastfeeding Problems
      • Breastfeeding Myths
      • Is My Baby Getting Enough Milk?
      • Why Breastfeed?
      • Suggestions for Successful Breastfeeding
      • Breastfeeding Techniques
  • Pregnancy
    • Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy
    • Ectopic Pregnancy
    • The Trimesters
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      • Second Trimester
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    • Pregnancy and Prenatal Tools
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    • The Trimesters
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    • Month to Month Diary
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      • Month 12 (Second Month after Birth)
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    • Tests During Pregnancy – Second Trimester
    • Tests During Pregnancy – Third Trimester
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    • 12 Tips for Unorganized Kids
    • Are There Different Types of Learning Disabilities?
    • Losing Your Temper: Why Parents Blow It and How to Recover
    • How Can I Keep My Child Safe from Things I Don’t Want Them to See?
    • Go To This Assistant’s Fundamental Rules
    • How Can I Keep My Child Safe?
    • Back to School Tips
    • Experts
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        • Dr. Heller’s CV
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        • Pat Sonnenstuhl CV
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        • Dr. Naseef’s CV
        • Healing Broken Dreams
        • You Will Dream New Dreams
        • Birth of a Parent
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        • Reflections on Fathers’ Day
      • Dr. Daniel Ravel
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    • Age Ranges
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Influenza

Flu Vaccine

Today influenza, or flu, remains the second most frequent cause of death from vaccine-preventable disease in the United States. Epidemics of this highly infectious, acute viral illness were reported as early as 1510. The Spanish flu swept the world in 1918 and 1919, killing more than 20 million people, 500,000 of them in the U.S. alone. Unlike the flu today, the Spanish flu mainly killed young adults. This disease single-handedly decreased life expectancy by 10 years.

It is not surprising, then, that the tension was palpable at the CDC in the United States when, in the winter of 1997, a new and deadly strain of flu emerged in Asia. In August 1997, a young boy in Hong Kong died of a strain of flu that previously had infected only birds. By December, 17 people had been identified with the same strain of flu, and six of them had died. Epidemiologists feared that if this new flu were to spread, not just from bird to human, but from human to human, a massive pandemic could follow. Attempts to produce a vaccine failed; the viruses killed the very cells in which scientists tried to grow them. Finally, not sure if the intervention would work, officials in Hong Kong ordered the slaughter and disposal of 1.5 million chickens. No cases of this strain of flu have been identified since then, but there are no guarantees that it will not re-emerge.

The drama of pandemics should not lead us to underestimate the common flu’s destructive power during a typical year. The CDC estimates that, each year on average, the flu causes 110,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths in the U.S. Almost all the deaths are among the elderly and among those persons who have medical conditions, ranging from pregnancy to chronic lung disease, that predispose them to flu-related complications.

We are vulnerable to the flu each year because the virus mutates enough to get past the antibodies that our bodies formed against earlier years’ strains.

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”.

 
 

Prenatal Tools

  • Pregnancy and Prenatal Tools
    • Ovulation Calculator
    • Basal Body Temperature
    • Conception Date Calculator
    • Baby Due Date Calculator
    • Pregnancy Weekly Calculator
    • Make a Birth Plan
    • Pregnancy Follower
    • Prenatal Appointment Timeline
    • Chinese Birth Chart
    • Pregnancy Weight Gain Chart
  • Boys Baby Names
  • Car Seat Buying Guide
  • Changing Diapers
  • Menstrual Cycle
  • Breast Milk vs. Formula Chart
  • Ultimate Breastfeeding Guide

Postnatal Tools

  • Breastfeeding Guide
    • Why Breastfeed?
    • Breastfeeding Myths
    • Breastfeeding Techniques
    • Breast Milk vs. Formula Chart
    • Breast Milk Leakage
    • Suggestions for Successful Breastfeeding
  • Boys Baby Names
  • Girls’ Names with Meanings
  • Girl Baby Names
  • Childproofing
  • Age 1
  • Car Seat Buying Guide
  • Circumcision – Decision
  • Day Care Info
  • Diaper Rash Decoder
  • Attachment Parenting Reduces S.I.D.S.
  • Infants and Babies
    • Newborn Babies and Pets
    • Marilyn’s Q & A for Infants
    • Month 11 (First Month after Birth)
    • Month 12 (Second Month after Birth)
    • How Do Vaccines Work?
    • Holding Your Baby Safely
    • Sleeping Habits
    • S.I.D.S.
    • S.I.D.S. and Sleeping with Your Baby
  • Kid Height Predictor
  • Vaccines
  • Safe Eating Tips

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