Transcript Immunisations and Swan Hill Rural City Council

Immunisations and
Swan Hill Rural City Council
Julie James
Environmental Health Officer
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What does immunisation mean?
• Immunisation protects both children and
adults against harmful diseases before
they come into contact with them in the
community
• They can be given by injection or as an
oral vaccine.
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What does immunisation mean?
Continued.
• The human immune system is a collection
of special cells and chemicals that fight
infection.
• The human body can gain immunity
against certain diseases either naturally
(by catching and surviving, or coming into
contact with, the illness) or through
immunisation.
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What does immunisation mean?
Continued.
• Vaccines help reduce the risk of diseases
by introducing a greatly weakened or dead
microbe (germ) to the immune system.
• Antibodies against the microbe are made
without the person getting sick.
• If the real disease-causing germ is ever
encountered, the immune system knows
how to defeat it and illness is avoided.
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What does immunisation mean?
Continued.
• Vaccines are designed according to how
particular germs make you sick.
• For example, the reaction to measles is to
the whole organism. However, in tetanus,
the body reacts to the poison produced by
the tetanus germ rather than the germ
itself.
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Vaccination success stories
• Small pox: up until the 1960s, around two
million people lost their lives every year to
this highly contagious disease.
• In 1967, the World Health Organisation
started an aggressive global immunisation
campaign that saw small pox eradicated
from the planet in 12 years.
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Vaccination success stories
continued..
• Poliomyelitis (polio): this viral disease
attacks the motor cells of the brain and
spinal cord, potentially causing paralysis,
and death.
• Immunisation campaigns began in the
1950s have virtually eradicated polio in the
West.
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Vaccination success stories
continued..
• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib
disease): since vaccination against Hib
disease was introduced into Victoria in
1993, cases amongst children have
dropped over 90 per cent.
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What is the Council’s role?
• The immunisation function of municipal
councils, as specified in section 29A(g) of
the current Health Act 1958, is
‘coordinating the immunisation of children
living or being educated within the
municipal district’.
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What does the Council provide?
• Swan Hill Rural City Council conducts two
immunisation session per month, a
morning and an evening session at the
Masonic Hall in Beveridge Street.
• Council’s Public Health Services also
conducts the school immunisation
sessions, which involves three visits per
year.
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What diseases does the Council
vaccinate against?
• Council’s Public Health Services provides
vaccinations as part of the National
Immunisation Program Schedule.
• These vaccinations are provided free.
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What diseases does the Council
vaccinate against? Cont..
• Hepatitis B: inflammation (swelling and
pain) of the liver. It is a viral infection that
can lead to serious illness and death. The
virus is found in the blood.
• Diphtheria: is a communicable bacterial
disease that causes severe inflammation
of the nose, throat and windpipe (trachea).
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What diseases does the Council
vaccinate against? Cont..
• Measles: a very contagious viral illness
that causes a skin rash and fever.
• Mumps: a viral illness that causes fever
and swollen salivary glands.
• Rubella: a viral illness that causes a skin
rash and joint pains.
• Chicken pox: a highly contagious viral
disease that causes a blistering skin rash.
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What diseases does the Council
vaccinate against? Cont..
• Pertussis (Whooping cough): is a serious,
contagious respiratory infection caused by the
bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The disease begins
like a cold and then the characteristic cough
develops.
• HPV: Cervical cancer almost always develops from
cell changes caused by the human papilloma virus
(HPV), which is spread through genital skin-to-skin
contact during sexual activity.
• Tetanus: is a serious bacterial disease that causes
muscle spasms and breathing problems.
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What diseases does the Council
vaccinate against? Cont..
• Meningococcal C: is any infection caused by bacteria
(germs) called meningococci, also known as Neisseria
meningitidis. These include infection of the membranes
covering the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) or
infection in the bloodstream (septicaemia).
• Hib disease: is a life-threatening bacterial infection that
can lead to serious illness, especially in children.
Conditions such as meningitis, epiglottitis and
pneumonia can develop very quickly and may require
urgent medical attention.
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What diseases does the Council
vaccinate against? Cont..
• Pneumococcal: refers to a range of illnesses that affect
various parts of the body and are caused by infection
with the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae,
commonly known as the pneumococcus.
Illnesses range from mild infections, such as ear
infection, to pneumonia and life-threatening infections of
the bloodstream and central nervous system, such as
meningitis.
• Polio: a serious disease, caused by infection with one of
the three types of poliovirus. Symptoms vary from mild,
flu-like symptoms to life-threatening paralysis.
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Common side effects of
immunisations
• Low-grade fever
• Pain at the injection site
• Redness or swelling at the injection sites
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The reasons why immunisations
should not be given
• The child is suffering from an acute illness or has a
temperature over 38°C
• Following previous dose of vaccine any of the following occur:
- Severe allergic reaction or anaphylaxis
- Convulsion with or without fever within 3 days
- Persistent, severe or inconsolable screaming or crying for 3 or
more hours
- Collapse or shock like state within 48 hours
- Temperature of more than 40.5 °C within 48 hours
- Severe local reaction eg. Extensive area of redness and
swelling involving most of the injected limb within 48 hours.
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Council’s role in communicable
disease investigations
• Section 29A of the Health Act 1958
obligates Council to prevent and control
disease. Council has a role to play in
notifying cases of infectious diseases to
the Department of Human Services and
providing local level information and
assistance with control investigations.
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Council’s role in communicable
disease investigations continued.
• Environmental Health Officers may become involved
in the public health management of cases of
infectious diseases in various ways:
- Cases may be referred by the Department of Human
Services for further investigation.
- Cases may be reported directly to them from the
local community.
- They may become aware of cases as a result of
their own observations and investigations.
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Your task!
• Develop a power point presentation
detailing a communicable disease. A
number of these may be placed on the
Council’s website and used as part of
presentations such as these to other
school or community groups
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Some useful websites
• Better Health Channel
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/
• Victorian Government Health InformationImmunisation home
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/immunisation
• Victorian Government Health InformationInfectious Disease Epidemiology &
Surveillance (IDEAS)
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/ideas
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