| Summertime Safety at Home and
Away
Physician Recommends Preventive
Medicine, Education
Tri-City Voice, July 11, 2006 If you’re making plans to travel outside the United States this summer, a
great first destination is your local family practice clinic or primary care
physician’s office to discuss potentially life-saving vaccinations. Ideally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you
should set up an appointment with a health-care provider four to six weeks
before your trip because many vaccines take time to become effective in your
body and some vaccines must be given in a series over a period of days or
sometimes weeks. Prevention is the best medicine If it is less than four weeks before you leave, you should still see your
doctor. It might not be too late to get your shots or medications and other
information about how to protect against illness and injury while traveling,
according to the CDC. What are vaccinations before traveling important? It’s all about prevention,
according to Dr. Steven Curran, Washington Hospital Medical Staff family
practice physician and medical director of Washington Clinic/Warm Springs and
Washington Clinic/Newark. “For many illnesses associated with travel – Hepatitis A for example – no
‘treatment’ is available,” Dr. Curran says. “However, immunization may prevent
the illness in the first place.” Not only is receiving vaccinations before traveling good common sense, in some
cases, it might be required by law for international travel. For instance,
yellow fever vaccine is regulated by International Health Regulations, and only
authorized providers can administer the vaccine. Washington Clinic/Warm Springs
is an authorized provider of yellow fever vaccination. To make an appointment,
call (510) 651-2371. To find a complete list of authorized yellow fever vaccination clinics, visit
the CDC’s Web site, www.cdc.org and refer to
the list of providers in its Yellow Fever Registry.
Be safe, be informed “The best advice is to be prepared,” according to Dr. Curran. “Consult a
physician familiar with travel medicine and check out the Centers for Disease
Control’s Web site. Some vaccines may be a requirement before obtaining a visa,”
to certain countries. Some diseases that travelers should be immunized against may include hepatitis
A, typhoid, yellow fever and meningitis, Dr. Curran says. “And don’t forget to get boosters for tetanus, diphtheria, polio, measles,
mumps, and rubella when appropriate,” he reminds. Even if you’re traveling to your native country, immunizations may be necessary. “Many people wrongly assume they are protected just because they were born in
the country to which they are traveling,” Dr. Curran explains. “I strongly
recommend testing, and if necessary, vaccinating prior to travel.” It’s also a good idea to know how potentially dangerous or untreatable diseases
in foreign countries are transmitted to better avoid them. According to Dr.
Curran, contaminated food or water are likely sources of Hepatitis A and
typhoid, and mosquitoes often carry diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. “Prepare ahead of time for travel so you can enjoy your vacation,” Dr. Curran
says. Be safe in your own back yard Even if you’re not traveling out of the country this summer, there are plenty of
summertime pests to avoid at home, especially when you’re spending more time
outdoors. Ah, nature. Hiking, walking with the kids on a nature trail, having picnics,
wearing shorts – these things come with the warm, sunny weather. And so do
ticks. According to the American Academy of Emergency Physicians, worldwide, there are
more than 850 tick species and 30 major tick-borne diseases. The United States
has 82 species of ticks that collectively can cause nine major diseases,
including Ehrlichiosis, Babesiosis, Tick Paralysis, Tick-borne Relapsing Fever,
Tularemia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Colorado Tick Fever. Most of these
diseases have symptoms similar to the flu, such as fever,
chills, headache, muscle ache, vomiting and fatigue. There’s also Lyme Disease, one of the most well-known diseases transmitted by
ticks, to consider, according to Dr. Curran. “Cover up and check frequently in all areas for ticks,” he says. “While not all
ticks carry disease, the greatest risk in California for Lyme Disease would come
from ticks in the Sierra or North Woods/Fort Bragg area.” Fight the bite! Another of summer’s pests to avoid is the mosquito, especially with the
emergence of West Nile Virus in California in recent years. If bitten by an
infected mosquito, a healthy individual may never exhibit symptoms, although the
CDC estimates that about 20 percent of people who become infected with WNV will
develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body
aches, occasionally with a skin rash (on the trunk of the body) and swollen
lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy
people have reported being sick for several weeks. Others, especially those in high risk categories – including children under the
age of 2, adults over the age of 50 and those with chronic diseases or
compromised immune systems – may be at risk for potentially life-threatening
infection. The symptoms of severe disease – also called neuroinvasive disease, such as West
Nile encephalitis or meningitis or West Nile poliomyelitis – include headache,
high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions,
muscle weakness, and paralysis, and the CDC estimates that approximately 1 in
150 persons infected with the West Nile virus will develop a more severe form of
disease. It is important to remember that West Nile Virus cannot be “cured” so it’s best
to follow the old adage “Better safe than sorry” by avoiding mosquito bites. Some good ways to avoid mosquito bites at home, according to Dr. Curran, include
wearing long sleeves and pants, wearing insect repellant with DEET when outdoors
and trying to avoid outdoor activities near dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are
the most active. It’s also a good idea to remove any standing water from your
property and make sure the screens in your house are intact and tightly sealed. To find out more about West Nile Virus, visit the Washington Hospital Web site
at www.whhs.com
and click on “For Our Community,” then select “West Nile Virus” from the
drop-down menu or visit www.cdc.gov
and search
for West Nile Virus. To learn more about services available at Washington Hospital’s primary care
clinics located in Newark, Warm Springs, Fremont and Union City, visit
www.whhs.com, click on “Our Facilities,” and
select “Washington Hospital Clinics.” Washington Clinic/Newark and Washington Clinic/Warm Springs both offer travel
immunizations and counseling. To make an appointment, call (510) 797-7535 for
the Newark clinic and (510) 651-2371 or (408) 946-6443 for the Warm Springs
clinic. |
