Jul 07 2010 |
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Oman: Vaccine against chicken pox soon
MUSCAT -- A vaccine against chicken pox will soon be added to the Health Ministry 's expanded immunisation programme (EPI), providing newborns with immunity against one of the most infectious diseases afflicting children today.Every year, thousands of children Omani and expatriate fall prey to the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox, a disease that, while relatively mild, is also responsible for significant morbidity among patients.
Sufferers are predominantly children aged 10 years and lower, who break out into itchy and painful rashes and blisters, as well as suffer flu-like symptoms, fever and fatigue. Deaths on account of chicken pox are extremely rare, although hospitalisations are not entirely uncommon.
In what is widely touted as a gesture to the people of Oman on the occasion of the Sultanate's 40th National Day, the varicella vaccine will be introduced for the first time this year as part of the Health Ministry 's routine immunisation campaign. Infants born on or after November 1, 2010 will be the first to receive the vaccine.
The single dose vaccine will be administered when the infant is 12 months old, effectively meaning that the first cohort of newborns will receive their chicken pox vaccines on November 1, 2011. Recipients will be administered the vaccine intra-muscularly as a jab on the thigh.
According to officials, the introduction of the vaccine will come as good news to new mothers eager to see their offspring spared the acute distress often associated with chicken pox infections.
Around 90 per cent of children around the world are afflicted with varicella before the age of 12, generating in return lifetime immunity against a recurrence of the disease. Infections are particularly acute and even potentially serious in adult sufferers.
Two years ago, a serious outbreak of chicken pox in the Sultanate afflicted an estimated 55,200 children in 2008, surpassing the previous year's tally of around 54,100 cases. The incidence halved to 25,300 cases last year.
Besides saving infants and children a great deal of misery, the varicella vaccine can also prevent potentially far more serious problems in some sufferers, say officials. A small percentage of otherwise healthy children afflicted with chicken pox can also suffer pneumonia, encephalitis, and infection of the blood or other organs.
Chicken pox in newborns and those with weak immune systems can be potentially life-threatening, it is pointed out.
Significantly, the vaccine is the latest in a series of new vaccine additions and upgrades to the Health Ministry 's routine immunisation programme.
In March, the ministry announced the introduction of a potent new vaccine aimed at providing newborns with a superior level of protection against the deadly pneumococcal disease.
The 13-valent polysaccharide conjugate vaccine (PCV 13) was incorporated into the ministry's EPI programme, providing newborns with enhanced immunity against the streptococcus pneumonia pathogen. It offers protection against diseases, such as meningitis (inflammation around the brain), sepsis or bacteraemia (bacteria in the bloodstream), pneumonia (lung infection) and ear infections caused by 13 types of the streptococcus pneumonia organism.
Besides, the ministry is also finalising plans to introduce a vaccine against rotavirus, a disease blamed for thousands of diarrhoea-related hospitalisations in the Sultanate every year.
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