Doctors have developed recommendations for adequate planning of the post-vaccination period of measles vaccine prophylaxis, compliance with which will help the body form full-fledged immunity. The most common question that arises among parents of vaccinated children is whether the measles vaccine can be wetted.
During the preventive examination, the pediatrician informs parents about possible local and general side effects, complications during the immunization process, introduces the conditions for a gentle regime after vaccination and the algorithm of actions in the event of vaccine reactions.
Is it possible to wet the measles vaccine for a child or an adult?
On the day of the vaccine, it is not recommended to wet the injection site for either children or adults. If necessary, wipe with a damp cloth without touching the injection wound on the shoulder or thigh.
From the second day, in the absence of pronounced reactions, it is allowed to take a shower without applying a washcloth to the injection site. After a shower, carefully blot the injection mark with a clean towel, avoiding rubbing.
Within three to four days, the injection puncture heals and the risk of infection by pathogenic microorganisms living in the water supply is reduced. It is especially important to observe this condition in relation to children, whose skin barrier functions are not yet sufficiently perfect.
It is recommended to postpone visiting a bathhouse, sauna, swimming pool, or water park after measles vaccination for two to three weeks. It is during this period that the active formation of specific immunity begins, so additional exposure to high or low temperatures on the body can interfere with this process.
Disinfectants used to disinfect pool or water park water can dry out the skin and cause itching. And when scratching a shoulder or thigh, the injection wound can also become infected.
You cannot take water procedures in case of pronounced vaccine reactions: local (post-injection infiltrate has reached eight centimeters in diameter or more), general (accompanied by an increase in body temperature).
Precautions during the post-vaccination period
Precautionary measures during the post-vaccination period include:
- It is recommended to limit exposure to fresh air on the first day after administration of the drug. The contraindication is mainly associated with an increase in body temperature as a reaction to the administered vaccine. As soon as the temperature returns to normal, or if the child has tolerated the drug well, walks are allowed;
- Parents should also remember that overloading the digestive system has a negative impact on the vaccination, which is why it is recommended to observe a semi-starvation regime before the procedure. Before going to the vaccination office, it is advisable not to eat for an hour and for the same amount of time after the administration of the drug. It is better not to feed infants for at least 2 hours after vaccination. From the diet of adult children, it is worth excluding high-calorie, fatty foods that are difficult for the digestive system;
- To prevent the development of allergic reactions, small children should not be given vitamin D for 5 days before the planned procedure, so that a calcium imbalance does not occur in the body. Instead, you can give calcium gluconate (one tablet per day). It is also not advisable to give any pills before vaccination, because this can cause the most unexpected reactions;
- limit foods that may cause allergies. For example, you should not eat new foods, stay in dusty rooms, introduce complementary foods to your child, or eat food with a strong aroma;
- if you receive a doctor’s recommendation to use antihistamines after vaccination, you should not give Tavegil or Suprastin (after all, these drugs reduce the amount of mucus, which causes drying of the mucous membranes in the respiratory tract, which can provoke bronchopulmonary diseases), it is better to give preference to Zyrtec or Fenistil;
- It is also undesirable to visit places where there are a large number of people for several days (you should not invite guests or go to visit yourself), as well as visit a kindergarten, school, shops, etc.;
- it is worth limiting contact with people who cough, sneeze, or have a cold in order to minimize the likelihood of getting sick;
- It is also not worth staying in the clinic for a long time after vaccination to reduce the risk of contracting colds. Even if you have received a recommendation to wait in the corridor for some time after administering the drug to prevent allergies, it is better to spend this time outside;
- The injection site must be kept clean and should not be rubbed while bathing.
For several hours after the injection, you need to limit any kind of stress on the body.
Is it possible to swim after a rubella vaccination?
When immunizing against rubella and mumps, if there are no vaccine reactions, adhere to the same rules as after vaccination against measles:
- limit water procedures on the day of vaccination;
- from the second day they use the shower;
- take baths on the third or fourth day;
- follow a gentle lifestyle for two to three weeks.
These recommendations apply to most vaccinations; medical personnel inform the parents of the vaccinated child about them before vaccination.
Swimming after BCG vaccination
Newborns are vaccinated against tuberculosis in the first week of their life. Having barely entered our world, tiny children must already fight for their survival.
A number of experts who strive to protect babies from any infections for as long as possible are firmly convinced that bathing a baby after vaccination should be postponed for at least two days. However, many neonatologists claim that vaccinated children can be washed the very next day.
Despite the slight difference in views on this issue, all doctors agree on one thing: if a child has general malaise, cough, runny nose, or fever, then the baby can be bathed only after complete recovery. Otherwise, harmful consequences cannot be avoided.
Only a medical consultation will make it possible to unambiguously decide whether it is dangerous to wet the injection site with water when it has become swollen and red and an abscess has appeared there. But even if the local pediatrician allows you to wash the baby immediately after the BCG vaccination, it is necessary to protect the developing scar like the apple of your eye from steaming, soaping and rubbing until a scar forms.
How many days can you not wash after vaccination?
There is no direct ban on swimming after vaccination. Doctors recommend approaching this issue individually, depending on the general health and immune system of the child, a history of adverse events or complications from previous vaccinations.
Typically, bathing is resumed three to four days after vaccination, being careful to avoid exposure to drafts and temperature changes.
To avoid negative consequences, water procedures are carried out following the rules:
- the air in the bathroom is heated;
- the water temperature is maintained at 36-38°C;
- They prefer herbal decoctions for bathing a child: celandine, chamomile, sage;
- This process does not take more than 10-15 minutes.
First of all, they try to prevent colds and infection of the injection wound.
Is it possible to bathe a child after vaccination with measles, rubella, mumps?
For some children, an evening bath is very important, as this evening ritual relaxes them and prepares them for bed.
But what if you visited the doctor's office and your child received the measles, rubella, mumps vaccine? Indeed, in addition to its calming effect, water also has a tonic effect on the body. It seems logical that water procedures after vaccination, on the contrary, should help the baby; he will quickly forget about the unpleasant procedure and fall asleep peacefully.
Doctors do not actually prohibit water procedures after vaccination, but there are certain features that not all parents or relatives of the child are able to observe, which is why this restriction arose.
How to care for the injection site?
After injection of the vaccine, changes of varying intensity may be observed at the injection site: redness and swelling of the skin of the shoulder or thigh, an increase in local temperature, which can persist from several days to two weeks, after which they resolve spontaneously.
The injection site is not recommended for children:
- warm with dry heat;
- lubricate with 5 percent iodine tincture;
- make alcohol and vodka compresses;
- in the first days, apply creams or ointments so as not to interfere with the healing of the injection wound.
The rapid development of a local reaction requires consultation with a pediatrician, who, after examining the child, will recommend medications to relieve these manifestations.
Typically, antihistamine tablets and gels such as Fenistil, anti-inflammatory and decongestant drugs based on Troxerutin or Heparin are prescribed. These effective drugs may be accompanied by negative side effects when used, so they are used only as prescribed by a doctor.
In some cases, physiotherapeutic procedures are indicated. Traditional medicine recommends applying cabbage leaves, honey or honey-rye cakes, applications with a 25 percent solution of magnesium sulfate, and fermented milk products to the injection site from the third or fourth day.
Recommendations for vaccination against measles, rubella and epidemics. mumps
02.07.2021
The measles-rubella-mumps vaccination is a multivalent injection of complex action that allows the introduction of an immunobiological drug into the human body, which helps to develop special immunity to the three infectious diseases indicated in the name of the vaccine. A vaccination protocol in childhood helps to avoid most serious diseases throughout future life. When immunization according to the above scheme with one vaccination, complex resistance to these diseases is formed, which significantly saves time and emotional energy usually spent on vaccinations. The carrier of all three severe viral infections is an infected person. Epidemics of each of the above diseases break out, as a rule, every 2-5 years, and depend on the level and living conditions in a particular territory. Measles, rubella and mumps can only affect humans; infection can vary from airborne transmission to direct contact with a disease carrier.
The main category of people at risk for these infections are children 5-7 years of age. At the same time, rubella and measles are recognized by doctors as more dangerous than mumps, which is why in regions with a severe epidemiological situation it is recommended to first stabilize the situation with the first two infections, and only then include mumps in the state vaccination calendar. To prevent the occurrence of epidemics, it is recommended to immunize no less than 80% of all children. If this figure is lower in certain years, the incidence may shift to adults who were not vaccinated in childhood. If, for example, boys aged 13-15 years old suffer from mumps, this will inevitably lead to complications in 20% of patients, leading to various consequences, mainly related to reproductive function.
WHAT ARE THE DANGEROUS OF MEASLES, RUBELLA AND MUMPS?
The main problem of these infections is the possibility of intrauterine infection of the fetus during the mother’s illness, when the consequences can be very serious both for the health of the baby and for the life of the unborn child.
For pregnant women, the danger of getting measles is that in the early stages of pregnancy the disease increases the likelihood of developing dementia or mental retardation. The respiratory system suffers, which can lead to inflammation and death of the fetus. In late pregnancy, the disease can trigger early labor, and the baby becomes infected from the mother through the birth canal. As a result, characteristic rashes appear on the skin and mucous membranes. Regarding mumps, it should be noted that the infection can affect the membranes of the brain and spinal cord in approximately 15% of cases of development of the disease, one person in 20,000 people with mumps may experience deafness, in men and boys, mumps most often causes inflammation of the testicle and its appendages, in adult men – prostatitis. Doctors call pancreatitis, nephritis, oophoritis, mastitis and arthritis as rare but possible complications of mumps. The main manifestations of rubella are a small rash, inflammation of the lymph nodes, and fever. But this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the complexity of this disease. If a woman contracts rubella in the first trimester of pregnancy, there is an 80% chance that her child will have heart defects, mental retardation, deafness or cataracts at birth. But carrying the pregnancy to term will also be a problem for her - very often rubella can cause intrauterine fetal death or stillbirth. In adulthood, the course of the disease can be very severe, with a large number of complications arising. But even in childhood it is better not to get sick with these infections. Immunity from the mother (innate immunity) is unstable and lasts only a few weeks after birth.
MEASLES-RUBELLA-MUMPS Vaccination
Young children should be vaccinated exactly at one year of age and again at the age of six. Revaccination of children at 6 years of age is necessary for the reason that not every body develops stable immunity from one vaccination. In the future, revaccination is carried out at the age of 15-17 years in order to prevent serious health consequences: Protection against rubella is extremely necessary for women planning pregnancy to be extended before pregnancy, since this disease is the most dangerous for this process. Immunity against measles acquired in childhood must be reactivated by receiving a new dose of the vaccine. It is important to prolong protection against mumps for men, since it is during adolescence that all the negative consequences for male reproductive function can occur when suffering from this infection. In childhood, multicomponent vaccination is tolerated quite easily, the body rarely reacts to vaccination with severe conditions, and protection is fully formed. If a child was not vaccinated in early childhood, then he must receive the first vaccine at 13 years of age.
For young women, the main goal should be mandatory vaccination against rubella, since this is the disease that has a very bad effect on the child if you get it during pregnancy. Rubella in the first 90 days of pregnancy often causes miscarriages and stillbirths. Other negative consequences include the birth of a child with congenital rubella syndrome, which is accompanied by the presence of developmental anomalies such as heart disease, cataracts and deafness. This syndrome may be accompanied by mental retardation, liver damage, kidney damage and other serious diseases.
An important point is the fact that the course of rubella can be in a latent form. In this case, the woman feels great, not paying attention to the minor rash, which goes away on its own after a few days. Meanwhile, the virus penetrates the placenta into the fetus, affecting all vital organs and systems. If a pregnant woman is suspected of having latent rubella, doctors carry out several stages of laboratory testing, the results of which should demonstrate the production of antibodies to this disease. If this occurs in the early stages, it is recommended to terminate the pregnancy to avoid the birth of a child with multiple deformities. That is why, before planning a pregnancy, women who have not been ill should definitely take care of the appropriate vaccination, which protects against the disease 100% for the next 15 years. After vaccination, it is necessary to protect against pregnancy for another month. Pregnant women are not specifically vaccinated, but sometimes vaccination occurs already during pregnancy. At the same time, the risk of intrauterine damage to the fetus is very low. As a rule, no changes in fetal development occur when vaccinated against rubella, which has been confirmed by numerous studies.
