The wait for the shingles vaccine continues, and figures to get even longer, as word spreads that the Food and Drug Administration has approved its use in 50- to 59-year-olds.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet incorporated the FDA’s March 24 announcement into its recommendations. the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which makes vaccine recommendations to the CDC, is expected to discuss the topic next month.

Many facilities and insurance companies say they will wait for CDC approval to make the vaccine available to the 50-59 age group. the vaccine costs $180 to $220. Medicare part D covers it, but some insurance companies do not.

An estimated 1 million Americans a year — 200,000 of them between the ages of 50 and 59 — battle the painful, blistering condition known as shingles. It is a disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is part of the herpes family and is the same virus that causes chickenpox.

After an attack of chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in certain nerves in the body. for reasons not fully understood, the virus can reappear in the form of shingles, “more commonly in people with weakened immune systems and with aging” the FDA stated in a March 24 media release.

”the likelihood of shingles increases with age,” said Dr. Karen Midthun, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “the availability of Zostavax to a younger age group provides an additional opportunity to prevent this often painful and debilitating disease.”

”We get calls every day for it,” said Kristin Campbell, office manager at Lima’s Pharmacy in McKinleyville. “It’s back-ordered until June.”

Campbell said she has 25 people on her waiting list and 20 vaccines due to arrive next month.

Costco pharmacist Derby McLaughlin said his list numbers 119.

”We’ve been out of it for maybe four or five months,” he said. “We just got it back in stock now — maybe 40 vaccinations — and we are constantly trying to re-order.”

Cloney’s pharmacist Richard Spini said more than 200 names dotted his waitlist last fall.

”the 20 vaccines we just got is a release from about four months ago,” he said. “That’s how far behind Merck is. We have orders in, but they tell me they aren’t going to fill them for another four months.”

”Manufacturing issues” is the reason Merck gave for the backlog, according to other news reports.

Since 2006, a vaccine called Zostavax has been available to people age 60 and older. It was credited with a 55 percent reduction of people developing shingles and a 67 percent reduction in pain at the site of the rash that can persist for weeks, months or years.

”now that they’ve lowered the age, a lot more people are eligible and it is apparently more effective when given at a younger age,” Spini said.

The FDA announcement to lower the age of approval was based on a multi-center study of 22,000 people ages 50 to 59 conducted in the United States and four other countries. Half the group received Zostavax and half a placebo. Participants were monitored for at least one year to see if they developed shingles.

”Compared with the placebo, Zostavax reduced the risk of developing shingles by approximately 70 percent,” the FDA stated.

Shingles is characterized by a rash of blisters that tend to develop in a strip around one side of the body, usually in the upper quadrant of the head, along the shoulder and upper back or around the abdomen.

Pain, or in some cases a burning sensation or itch, usually appears one to five days before the blistering rash. other symptoms include upset stomach, fever, headache or chills.

The rash scabs over in 10 days and clears up within two to four weeks, but one in five people will develop serious, long-term pain known as postherpetic neuralgia.

Other complications may include blindness, skin infections and neurological problems associated with hearing, balance, facial paralysis or brain inflammation.

”I’ve known people whose lives were destroyed by it,” Dr. Alan Glaseroff told Tri-City Weekly in a story posted online March 1.

In younger people, Glaseroff said, it tends to be “the rash, a couple of weeks of pain, the memory of it and then it’s over. in old people, it can be a lifetime of pain.”

The CDC reports one out of every three people in the United States will develop shingles.

Half of all shingles cases occur in men and women age 60 and older and half of all people living to age 85 will ultimately deal with it, the CDC says. yet only 10 percent of the over-60 age group took advantage of the vaccine in 2009.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn’t among them. the 66-year-old was reportedly diagnosed with shingles by the Mayo Clinic early in may. the appearance of his right eye and head — and the obvious pain and discomfort visible at press conferences — raised awareness of the disease in the Midwest and may help some determine the wisdom of vaccination.

”in the case of shingles, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words,” said Cindy Denbo, executive director of Area 1 Agency on Aging.

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Carol Harrison is a freelance journalist commissioned by Area 1 Agency on Aging to produce this column twice a month.

Perimenopause is an unavoidable event that influences center aged women. In this article we’ll be making a look at what perimenopause is, as well as the prevalent symptoms that happen as obtaining a end result of perimenopause.

The initial thing we ought to accomplish is solution the question, what is perimenopause? Well it is a process that will be known as pre-menopause. as the latter title suggests it is a process that precedes menopause. Perimenopause starts anywhere involving two to 10 years ahead of the woman’s menstrual cycle appear to an end.

The perimenopause phase lasts for an common of about half-dozen years, but in some instances it could likely last for 10 years. Women launch to visit through menopause when pre-menopause occurs to an end.

Perimenopause is prevalent in center aged women, despite the truth that some women get it even earlier, one example is on the age group of 35. as perimenopause occurs to an accomplish the oestrogen amounts in a woman’s body starts to drop rapidly. Many women worry about perimenopause and menopause, nonetheless it shouldn’t be this way, premenonpause is a standard process, and as long as you protect yourself clued up about it, it shouldn’t grant you too a good deal trouble.

A female typically realizes she is certainly going through perimenopause by its symptoms. you can get rather a few symptoms that could likely happen as obtaining a end result of the process, some of these are outlined below.

Hot flashes, chilly flashes, night sweats, weakened finger nails, tinnitus, anxiety, apprehension, confusion, disorientation, problems concentrating, sleep problems, thinning hair, or frizzy hair loss, elevated cosmetic hair, decline of balance, dizziness, feelings swings, brightness headedness, nausea, indigestion, flatulence, loss tongue, bad taste in mouth, loss feeling on the roof of mouth, gastrointestinal distress, change in breath odor, itchy skin, crawly feeling on skin, gum problems, aches and pains in muscle and joints, tingling extremities, and head aches, among other symptoms.

As you can see these symptoms can lead to awesome discomfort, however they don’t all appear on a similar time. the degree to which a female is affected by these symptoms also is dependent on the individual, some women tend to suffer from many whilst some luckier women suffer from rather few.These symptoms are considered to be brought on by the unstable amounts estrogens which were a characteristic of the process.

If you are getting through perimenopause it is strongly proposed that you look at out your physician, that way you’ll get a appropriate diagnosis. what is more your medical professional could include the potential to recommend the best kind of therapy for the symptoms. Many women will teach you that going through perimenopause is a hard period of time of their life, to create factors even worse the symptoms of the process can lead to other problems, one example is night sweats can lead to sleeplessness which in turn can weaken your immune system, as you’ll not include the potential to get enough chill out to protect it running at it’s optimum. this can be a key rationale why you should see your medical professional as soon as you have the chance.

This article included perimenopause symptoms and the rationale why they occur.

Latest Healthy Kids News

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) — many American parents of children aged 2 and younger still give over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to their kids despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration warnings to the contrary, researchers have found.

In response to research linking over-the-counter (or OTC) cough and cold medicines to poisoning or death in hundreds of children ages 2 years and younger, the FDA said in 2008 that the products should not be given to children in this age group.

In addition, studies have shown that these medicines have little benefit in controlling symptoms.

A new national poll of over 300 parents of children ages 6 months to 2 years found that 61% of parents gave OTC cough and cold medicines to their children within the last 12 months.

In addition, more than half of the parents said their child’s doctor said the medicines are safe for children under 2 years, and about half reported that their doctor said the medicines are effective, according to the results released Feb. 15 by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

Among the other findings:

• Use of OTC medicines for children ages 2 and younger varied by race/ethnicity: 80% among blacks; 69% among Hispanics; and 57% among whites.
• Use also differed by income: 80% among families with annual incomes of less than $30,000 and 41% among families with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.
• Wanting their child to be able to sleep better or to be more comfortable during the day were cited by two-thirds of parents as “very important” reasons for using the medications.
• The recommendation of the child’s health care provider was very important to 57% of the parents.

“There are challenges to informing parents about this topic,” poll director Dr. Matthew Davis, an associate professor in the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a university news release.

“The FDA warning is specific to young children, age 2 and under, but parents of those kids may not have heard the warnings issued more than two years ago. each year a ‘new generation’ of parents must be educated about a wide variety of health care issues for their children,” he explained.

“Physicians are a valuable source of information for parents about this issue, but it appears that physicians are not heeding FDA warnings about OTC cough and cold medicines either. Kids will be safer when parents and doctors are all on the same page in limiting these medicines to older children,” Davis added.

– Robert Preidt

Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: University of Michigan, news release, Feb. 15, 2011

I have been seeing doctors since December 2008. Many of my symptoms are fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, depression which are many of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer. I also have GERD. I have had an ultrasound done and nothing came up. I am 16 years old, so that kind of lowers my chances of having it. Should i be worried about the potential of having it and should i ask my Doctor about getting a test?

Pancreatic cancer is extremely rare in a 16 year old to the point that I am not sure there has ever been a reported case in that age group (I am talking the usual pancreatic cancer adenocarcinoma). Pancreatic cancer is usually a disease of middle aged to elderly individuals. Symptoms include pain, weight loss and jaundice (yellowing of eyes and skin). The unfortunate thing is that these symptoms usually do not develop until the disease is advanced and incurable. The weight loss is usually significant, so if you have not had any then it makes it less likely. your symptoms most likely are due to common benign conditions. I personally do not think you need any further evaluation for pancreatic cancer. your doctor may want to check other tests to look for other causes, but not to look for pancreatic cancer.