October 4, 2011 – 9:21 am
All persons really should have some training in first aid. One never knows when they will encounter a situation that requires them to administer first aid. Sometimes whether a person can respond promptly in a time of crisis can be the difference in whether a person survives or does not. There are many opportunities for one to take first aid courses in their community. The local Red Cross offers many courses that one can take. Many hospitals and community centers also offer training in first aid. For children the boy or girl scouts will generally offer first aid courses as well.
Some of the types of first aid courses that one may enroll in are on basic first aid techniques, first aid for babysitters, pet first aid, CPR and other such classes. It is important for persons who care for others especially to be sure they have first aid training. CPR training is a very important course. One learns in the course how to help a person who has stopped breathing and also what to do to assist someone whose heart has stopped beating. This can be a crucial factor in whether or not a person survives until medical help can arrive to care for the victim. CPR is not difficult but it does require one to learn the technique.
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In the first month of life, an infant’s immune system is not fully mature. It is questionable how effective immunization is during this time. It is important that a mother has received the proper immunizations so that the infant is protected by virtue of passive immunity. The mother’s immunity can protect the infant during the time that the infant’s system is not yet functioning up to full capability. The mother’s antibodies can protect the infant of for the first three to six months of life. The infant must develop antibodies of their own. Some diseases and infection can be prevented by infant vaccination.
Infants have do not have fully functioning immune systems at least through the first month of life (neonate). Even vaccinations are not very effective until the system is more mature. Infants are protected from diseases and infections during this time by their mother’s passive immunity. When a mother has been immunized or has antibodies built up against bacteria and viruses these pass through the placenta before birth. One of the few substances that are enabled to pass through the placenta is immunoglobulin G which is a type of antibody. This occurs at about the third month of gestation and acts as a protection to fetus throughout gestation and extends for a while after birth. This is called passive immunization. Breast milk also contains antibodies that continue to protect the infant.
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February 18, 2011 – 5:51 pm
It is a well established fact that a mother’s immunity is passed on to her infant. Whatever the mother is protected against, the infant is protected against. There is great promise in the future that infants could be protected against several viruses via their mothers. As an added benefit, the mother and the infant will be protected and the occurrence of illness could be reduced with maternal viral immunization. Aside from the usual vaccines like polio and rubella, illnesses such as influenza, herpes, human immunodeficiency virus, and respiratory viruses could be treated or prevented.
Maternal viral immunization is effective because immunoglobulin is one of the substances that can pass through the placenta. IgG is the only type of antibody that can pass through the placenta. It does so by attaching to receptors on the placenta then passes through. These antibodies will protect the infant through the most delicate time, the first month. Infants do not respond well to vaccines in that first month because their immune systems are not fully developed and don’t respond to vaccines like a more mature immune system. In that first month, the infant is protected by the passive immunity of the mother. After that period, the infant is capable of developing its own immunity and can effectively be vaccinated.
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February 5, 2011 – 1:11 pm
The International Neonatal and Maternal Immunization Symposium is held annually in Turkey. They are focused on education and research in the development of the immune system in neonates and in the role that immunization of their mothers plays in that. The symposium was first held in 2009 and again in March of 2010. It will continue into the future as developments continue forward in the health of mothers and infants. The Turkish Pediatric Infectious Disease Society endorses the symposium along with European Society of Pediatric Infectious Disease and European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease.
The goal of the first Immunization Symposium was to increase knowledge of the neonate immune system in order to protect the health of the infant as early as possible and how immunizing mothers could play a role in this. It included classes about infant immunity, vaccine use in infancy, adolescent vaccine use, and immunizations during pregnancy. Neonatal response to maternal immunizations and potential for infection in newborns was also a topic of conversation. Individual vaccines were also discussed such as hepatitis, HPV, pneumococcal vaccines, rotavirus, influenza, HiB, TB, and the development of new vaccines.
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January 24, 2011 – 6:46 pm
If you think you might be pregnant, no doubt you want answers as soon as possible. This is reasonable. After all, your whole life as you know it might be about to change. You will need plenty of time to get everything in order if you are pregnant, and if you aren’t, you need to know that too. Your first instinct will be to run to the store and buy a home pregnancy test. Early pregnancy tests can give very accurate results in a short period of time and in the privacy of your own home, but you will need to wait for the right time to take the test in order to get the best possible results.
When you take early pregnancy tests at home, what you do is take a urine sample. The test checks for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, which is more commonly called HCG. When that hormone is being produced, it means a woman is pregnant. The reason the hormone is being produced is because the placenta makes this hormone only when an embryo has been implanted into the lining of the uterus. It takes time for the HCG levels to rise. Sometimes, when women are pregnant, they experience early symptoms of pregnancy, but they will still test negative if they take the test too early.
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January 15, 2011 – 10:15 pm
During the first month of life, an infant is very susceptible to infection and disease because the immune system is not yet fully developed. It is questionable how effective vaccines are at this time. Most vaccines are given after a month has passed and the immune system is prepared to use a vaccine effectively. But during that first month of life, an infant may be in danger of contracting a serious disease. The only protection available to the neonatal child is protection from the mother. Immunizing pregnant women who have not previously been vaccinated provides a way to protect the infant during that sensitive time.
Immunoglobulin G is the only antibody, and one of the few substances that can pass through the placenta. The placenta is a sack surrounding the fetus that protects it from potential toxins in the mother’s environment. It lets through the nourishment that the fetus needs and also lets through other important elements to the fetus’s health including antibodies. Any antibodies that the mother has will be passed to the fetus. Even vaccination during pregnancy ensures that these antibodies are passed to the fetus. Immunizing pregnant women is one of the last efforts available to protect the infant in the first month of life.
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January 9, 2011 – 9:55 pm
Many take immunization for granted today. It was not very long ago that most children suffered through several mandatory illnesses in their very early years. Some did not make it others were left marked for the rest of their lives. Infants have underdeveloped immune systems for about a month after birth which leaves them open to all kinds of infection. Research has shown that vaccinated mothers pass this immunity to their immune compromised infants. Immunization history shows that this protects them until their systems are ready to start acquiring immunity on their own. An immunized mother makes for a healthier infant.
This so called passive immunity was recognized by Mithradates VI of Pontus who attempted to sure himself up against poison by taking a daily dose of poison that was just less than would kill him. He was trying to build up immunity to it and he was successful. His mixture of universal antidote was used throughout the Renaissance era. Improvements were made over the immunization history years and the new mixture called, Theriacum Andromachi was used into the 1800s. In 1888, the diphtheria toxin was isolated. In 1890, an antitoxin was discovered for diphtheria and tetanus. This led to the first success of the use of a substance intended to create immunity.
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