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DISEASES AND INFECTIONS IN CHILDREN: CHILDHOOD VACCINES AND HEAD LICE TREATMENT
Childhood vaccines
Childhood vaccines have virtually eliminated potentially serious diseases such as polio, whooping cough and measles. These vaccines are available separately or in combination at little or no cost, yet it is surprising that more people do not take advantage of this service. Many parents fear that vaccines will produce severe reactions and allergies, which are in fact uncommon. If reactions do occur they are usually related to the whooping cough component of the triple vaccine, which can be avoided with subsequent injections. There is now also a vaccine against the haemophilus influenza infection, which can cause severe, even fatal illness. Your doctor can advise you about this.
Head lice
Head lice are a parasitic infection which affects many children irrespective of their social level or standard of hygiene. Head lice are transmitted from one person to another via shared hats, combs, hair brushes, towels and pillows. They favor especially those with long, clean hair and epidemics readily occur in schools and child care centers.
Head lice produce intense itching of the scalp. On close inspection, one can usually see the lice jumping through the hair, while nits (unhatched eggs) can also be seen clinging to the bottom of the hair shafts.
Treating head lice
The whole family should be treated for head lice if a child has picked them up. As well, the school should be alerted so that other children can be checked and treated. There are a number of good anti-lice preparations available, such as Lyban shampoo, Pyrifoam shampoo and Quellada cream. They must be applied twice, at the time of diagnosis then eight to ten days later. Two applications are necessary to destroy the nits, which take about seven to ten days to hatch and so would have survived the first dousing. After an anti-lice shampoo has been used, the lice should be removed with a fine comb and the hair rinsed with vinegar. Lice can also occur in the eyebrows and eyelashes and these areas must be checked and treated if necessary.
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GENERAL HEALTH
- The expiry date is mentioned on each blister. It is different for different batches. The shelf life is 2 years from the date of manufacture and would differ from batch to batch depending on when they were manufactured.
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