Making pneumo shot a rule rather than an exception
By Charles E. Buban
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:53:00 08/15/2008
Filed Under: Health, Science & Technology, Science (general), Lifestyle & Leisure
MANILA, Philippines—Very soon, a number of private hospitals around the country will begin requiring their elderly as well as their other high-risk in-patients to get a pneumococcal shot before they are allowed to go home.
Doctors and hospital officials who attended Monday night’s discussion on increasing access to pneumococcal vaccination believe that implementing this standing order program (SOP) in hospitals could result in more individuals being saved from a microorganism that has been responsible for significant morbidity and mortality among high-risk groups, as well as among healthy populations.
Pneumococcal disease is caused by a common bacterium, the pneumococcus, which can attack different parts of the body. When the bacteria invade the lungs, they cause the most common form of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. If they go to the bloodstream, they cause bacteremia (that could lead to blood poisoning) and when they invade the covering of the brain, they cause meningitis. Pneumococci may also cause middle ear infection and sinusitis.
Leading cause
“Indeed, pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of serious illness and death in children and adults around the world. Implementing this SOP in hospitals here is a significant first step in dealing with this challenge considering that the Philippines has no specific immunization implementation guideline for certain high-risk population,” said Dr. Ramoncito Yambao, infectious disease specialist of Nazarenus Hospital who was one of the resource persons of the meeting held in Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.
Dr. Miguel Ramos, president of Philippine Society for Geriatric Medicine, explained that while anyone could get the disease, some groups are at particularly high risk.
“They include those aged 60 and above; young children; those with weak immune systems due to cancer, leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease or human immunodeficiency virus; persons with sickle cell disease or without a functioning spleen; individuals who have a chronic illness such as lung, heart and kidney disease, diabetes and alcoholism; and those patients staying in chronic or long-term care facilities,” he enumerated.
Limited access
Dr. Roberto Barzaga, chair of Philippine College of Chest Physician’s Council for Pulmonary Infection, added that while there is a safe and effective vaccine that could protect against pneumococcal disease access, few are still vaccinated for reasons like the patients did not know about it and that it is still up to the doctor’s judgment to recommend the vaccination.
A single dose of the pneumococcal vaccine called pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine could protect against 23 different types of Streptococcus pneumonia bacteria that are responsible for causing over 90 percent of all pneumococcal disease cases.
“While the vaccine has been available for years, only few were able to receive the pneumococcal shot. However, if hospitals include the vaccination as among their SOPs, the number of those that should be vaccinated may improve significantly,” said Dr. Grace Ramos, president of PCCP.
Penicillin
Pneumococcal disease is treated primarily with penicillin. However, in recent years, pneumococcal strains resistant to one or more of these commonly used antibiotics have emerged.
“This resistance makes treatment difficult and may result in longer hospitalizations and more expensive alternative therapy. Moreover, the emergence of resistant strains places further emphasis on the need for preventing pneumococcal disease through vaccination,” said Dr. Roberto Salvino, an infectious diseases specialist at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.
Dr. Joselito Sta. Ana, country manager of sanofi pasteur, assured that there is enough supply of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in the country and making it more accessible to more high-risk in-patients is a move that will not only save more lives but also money.
“The individual and community protection that pneumococcal vaccine could provide are cost savings to everyone involved when both direct and indirect costs are considered,” he said.
|
