PHYSICIANS OFFICE
RESOURCE NEWS BRIEFS
Selected by POR Editorial Board
C
DC: Measles on Upswing
Despite Vaccines'
Effectiveness
for them. The program was a direct response
to a measles outbreak that sickened more
than 50,000 people and killed more than 100.
This happened despite the availability of a
measles vaccine since 1963, Frieden said. "This
was a wake-up call and it impressed upon me
how infectious measles is, because a single
undiagnosed case in a hospital could result in
dozens of secondary cases," he explained.
The program also saves money, Frieden
said. Fewer hospitalizations and more lives
saved will cut nearly $295 billion in direct
costs and $1.38 trillion in total societal costs,
estimates indicate.
Vaccinations have prevented an
estimated 732,000 deaths, 21
million hospitalizations, and 322 million
illnesses among U.S. children born in the last
20 years, according to a government report
published in the April 25 issue of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
A
AFP Provides Tips to
Address Patients' Vaccine
Concerns
Physicians remain the biggest
influence on whether patients
get vaccinated, and must be prepared to
address patients' reservations, according to an
article published in the March/April issue of
Family Practice Management.
Marie T. Brown, M.D., from the Rush University
Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues
describe tactics to effectively communicate the
risks and benefits of vaccination to patients who
express uncertainty about vaccines.
The authors write that physician
recommendation is the most important factor
influencing a patient's decision to be
immunized. Practices should make
immunizations a priority and include nurses
in an advocacy role. Other reasons patients
decline vaccinations are the mistaken beliefs
that they are healthy and can naturally fight
infections; that they or their child will get the
illness from the immunization; that there is
little threat of the disease anymore; and that
the immunization is part of a conspiracy.
Physicians' practices need to take into
Despite this success, measles is seeing a
recurrence in the United States, the CDC also
reported. As of April 18, 129 people have been
diagnosed with measles in outbreaks in 13
states this year. Most of the people sickened
were not vaccinated, the CDC says. Although
these outbreaks start outside the country,
measles infection spreads rapidly among
unvaccinated people, CDC Director Tom Frieden,
M.D., M.P.H., said during an early afternoon press
briefing. "Measles is still far too common in
many parts of the world," he said. "Globally, an
estimated 20 million people get measles and
122,000 die from the disease each year."
Twenty years ago, the Vaccines for Children
program was launched, providing free
vaccines for families who can't afford to pay
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