Fact Sheet:
diphtheria
- easily spread through coughing or sneezing
- early symptoms are sore throat, slight fever and chills
- can interfere with swallowing and cause suffocation
- can cause heart failure or paralysis if allowed to go untreated
- can be prevented with DTP vaccine
tetanus
- also known as Lockjaw
- enters the body through a wound
- produces a poison which affects the body's nervous system
- symptoms are headache, irritability, stiffness in jaw and neck
- causes muscle spasms in the jaw, neck, arms, legs and abdomen
- may require intensive hospital care
- three out of every 10 people in the U.S. who get tetanus die
- can be prevented with DTP vaccine
pertussis
- also known as whooping cough
- highly contagious
- causes severe spells of coughing which can interfere with eating, drinking and breathing
- complications may include pneumonia, convulsions or encephalitis
- in the U.S., about 65% of reported cases occur in children under 5, and half of those are infants less than one year old
- in recent years, an average of 3,500 cases reported in the U.S.
- can be prevented with DTP vaccine
polio
- serious cases cause paralysis and death
- mild cases cause fever, sore throat, nausea, headaches, stomachaches; stiffness in the neck, back and legs also occurs
- can be prevented with the oral polio vaccine
measles
- highly contagious
- causes a rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and watery eyes, lasting for one to two weeks
- causes ear infections and pneumonia in one out of every 20 children who get it
- causes encephalitis that can lead to convulsions, deafness or mental retardation in one out of every 1,000 children who get it
- of every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die
- MMR vaccine prevents this disease
mumps
- causes fever, headache, and inflammation of the salivary glands, resulting in swelling of cheeks or jaw
- one out of every 10 who get mumps may develop meningitis; sometimes causes encephalitis
- can result in permanent loss of hearing
- MMR vaccine prevents this disease
rubella
- also known as german measles
- most serious in pregnant woman, there is an 80% chance that it will cause defects in the unborn child if infection occurs in pregnancy
- symptoms include mild discomfort, slight fever for 24 hours, and a rash on the face and neck lasting for two or three days
- MMR vaccine prevents this disease
haemophilus infiuenzae type b
- also known as Hib disease
- strikes one child out of 200 before the fifth birthday
- more serious in infants under one year of age
- causes pneumonia and infections of the blood, joints, bones, soft tissues, throat and the covering of the heart
- causes meningitis in about 12,000 children per year; about one in four suffer permanent brain damage; and about one in 20 dies
- Hib vaccine prevents this disease
hepatitis B
- infants born to infected mothers have up to an 85% chance of getting the infection
- HBV infection is spread within families and communities
- infection at birth or during early childhood can result in long-term chronic illness
- chronically infected persons can develop chronic liver disease and a rare form of cancer
- HBV vaccine prevents this disease
