Dr. Schiffman received his B.S. degree with High Honors in biology from Hobart College in 1976. He then moved to Chicago where he studied biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. He attended Rush Medical College where he received his M.D. degree in 1982 and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
How long must a person wait to receive other vaccinations?
Inactivated influenza vaccine and tetanus vaccines may be given at the same time as or at any time before or after a dose of pneumococcus vaccine. There are no requirements to wait between the doses of these or any other inactivated vaccines.
Vaccination of children recommended
In July 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the CDC jointly recommended childhood pneumococcal immunization, since pneumococcal infections are the most common invasive bacterial infections in children in the United States, causing about 1,400 cases of meningitis, 17,000 cases of blood stream infections, and 71,000 cases of pneumonia every year in children under age 5.
The new AAP/CDC guidelines stipulated the use of the newest form of the pneumococcal vaccine, the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) and recommended it "for use in all children 23 months of age and younger. Although other pneumococcal vaccines are available, PCV7 represents the first pneumococcal vaccine approved for use in children younger than age 2. The policy recommends that PCV7 be given concurrently with other recommended childhood vaccines at 2, 4, 6, and 12 to 15 months. The number of PCV7 doses required depends upon the age at which vaccination is initiated. The vaccine was also recommended for all children 24 to 59 months of age who are at especially high risk of invasive pneumococcal infection. This includes children with sickle cell disease, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and other children who are immunocompromised."
What about pregnancy?
The safety of the pneumococcus vaccine for pregnant women has not yet been studied. There is no evidence that the vaccine is harmful to either the mother or the fetus, but pregnant women should consult with their doctor before being vaccinated. Women who are at high risk of pneumococcal disease should be vaccinated before becoming pregnant, if possible.
Pneumonia is inflammation of one or both lungs with consolidation. Pneumonia is frequently but not always due to infection. The infection may be bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic. Symptoms may include fever, chills, cough with sputum production, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a disorder that persistently obstructs bronchial airflow. COPD mainly involves three related conditions, chronic bronchitis, chronic asthma, and emphysema. Symptoms of COPD include chronic cough, shortness of breath, frequent respiratory infections, wheezing, morning headaches, and pulmonary hypertension. Treatment of COPD is focused on the related condition(s).
Chronic bronchitis is a cough that occurs daily with production of sputum that lasts for at least three months, two years in a row. Causes of chronic bronchitis include cigarette smoking, inhaled irritants, and underlying disease processes (such as asthma, or congestive heart failure). Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, and wheezing. Treatments include bronchodilators and steroids. Complications of chronic bronchitis include COPD and emphysema.
Encephalitis is a brain inflammation that causes sudden fever, vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, stiff neck and back, drowsiness, and irritability. Meningitis is an infection that causes inflammation of the meninges that surround the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms of meningitis include high fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck.
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