Question: How Serious Are Diseases We Immunize Against?
Answer: Any of them can kill a child. It's easy to forget how serious they are because
thanks largely to vaccines we don't see them nearly as much as we used to.
Measles used to kill thousands of people in the United States every year. In the 1940s and 1950s tens of thousands of children were crippled or killed by polio. As recently as the mid-1980s, 20,000 children a year suffered from meningitis and other serious complications as a result of Hib disease.
These diseases aren't as common as they used to be, but they haven't changed. They can still lead to pneumonia, choking, brain damage, heart problems, liver cancer, and blindness in children who are not immune. They still kill children every year, even in the United States.
Do you have a question you'd like to see answered? You can send your questions to me at babyparenting.guide@about.com and I will answer them here on the site.
