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Oct 13, 2009 5:00 pm US/Central
Why Pregnant Women Are 1st In Line For H1N1 Shot
(WCCO)
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A pregnant woman's immune system makes sacrifices to protect the growing fetus. (File)
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Pregnant women are at the top of the list to get an H1N1 flu vaccination because the virus has been particularly hard on expecting mothers.
"The mom, in some ways, becomes immune suppressed," said Patsy Stinchfield, director of the infectious disease department of Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
According to Stinchfield, a pregnant woman's immune system makes sacrifices to protect the growing fetus.
"Mom, on the other hand, may have a chronic sinus infection for 9 months and pick up colds and things like that, because their immune system really is oriented toward that developing baby," said Stinchfield.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says getting a flu shot is the single best way to protect mother and baby against both seasonal and H1N1 flu.
Seasonal flu vaccine has been safely given to millions of women over many years. Studies show a mother's shot also boosts the newborn baby's immunity for the first six months of life. It's expected to work the same way for the H1N1 vaccine.
Because the H1N1 vaccine is not approved for babies under 6 months old, visitors to hospital nurseries are being screened before being allowed near newborns. Ideally, parents should try to make sure anyone coming in contact with young babies has had their flu shots.
Stinchfield recommended "vaccinating everyone around them who takes care of them -- including their healthcare workers, their child care workers, their grandparents, their parents -- those sorts of groups."
Pregnant women who think they have H1N1 flu should call their doctors right away to see if they should receive an anti-viral drug like Tamiflu. It works best if given early in the illness.
The Centers for Disease Control have more information about pregnancy and H1N1
here.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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