Alan writes:
If you’ve never seen it, this XKCD should bring a smile.
Thank you for all your lucid, informative and engaging contributions to TWiV!
Marianne writes:
Good evening Dr. Griffin,
I was just reading in the NYT today about dead H5N1 viral particles found in milk. Would ingesting these dead particles enable our immune systems to recognize and help kill the live H5N1 virus, if we were to become infected?
IDK enough about virology or immunology, but I know enough to ask you and Vincent.
Thank you for continuing Clinical Updates on TWiV!
Marianne
Janet writes:
Dear Dr. Griffin,
We are planning a 99th birthday party for the matriarch of the family the first week in July in Seattle, Washington. Family members from all over the country will be attending. One of those will be the newest addition, our now five-month-old grandson who will be about seven months old at the time of the get together. He will be flying with his parents and healthy, vaccinated two-year-old and thirteen year old sisters from the Cincinnati Ohio area.
I am concerned about the recent rise in measles cases in the US you have been discussing on TWIV in recent months, and the fact that standard vaccination protocol is that a child receive their first MMR vaccine between twelve and fifteen months of age. A quick google search reveals that for people traveling with infants internationally to areas with “known measles outbreaks”, babies six to eleven months old should receive their first MMR vaccine dose at least two weeks before traveling. I understand they will still need the 2-dose series if they receive a dose before age 12 months.
Would you think it prudent that my grandson get vaccinated about two to four weeks prior to traveling to Seattle when he will be just 6 months old, or am I being an overly worried grandmother? Are there any significant downsides to getting vaccinated early, other than the fact that he would need to be revaccinated and thus would be getting an “extra” shot? If he were to get vaccinated “early” is there a separate measles vaccine, or only the combination MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) formulation?
Thank you so much for your advice.
Janet
Sue writes:
Dear Drs Griffin (& Racaniello),
A letter to you in Clinical Update 1106 made me realize I’ve had a question for you guys all along [What have you learned today, Dorothy?]. My husband’s 3, count ’em 3, types of arthritis have gradually made a near-complete comeback, especially the worst of them, psoriatic, in the 4 years since the covid 19 pandemic made him reluctant to suppress his immune system to any degree, with methotrexate, plus the danger then of visiting his rheumatologist in a high-rise office deep in New Orleans when we were a hotspot. He now suffers frank pain in his hands, left knee, and right hip [I know, right?]. Risky, discomfitting flare of skin psoriasis on his lower legs, resolved by his old drug regimen, keep him in long pants all summer. In this climate, now hotter than ever.
He used to take methotrexate, Humira biweekly injections, supplement folate & D3, and colchicine as needed for thankfully-infrequent bouts of acute gout. (Maybe something else I don’t recall. Osteo ticks along in the background, it too vastly improved by that regimen. If that makes sense/ what do I know/ I’m just a biochemist who became a radiographer for better job security & a lot less sexual harassment, back in the day/ lucked into meeting this wonderful partner.)
Oh my question? Does being on any immunosuppressant always decrease the efficacy of any vaccines or “boosters”? Can you go off the med(s) for a time, get yer booster (of SARS-CoV 2 or tetanus or whatever), wait a while to build up your arsenal of programmed immune cells, and then go back on, say, methotrexate, and maintain yer level of immunity (with the normal rate of diminution of immunity, if that’s why we get boosters, apart from new variants–oh God, she has another question?)? Will going back on these meds erase any of the immunity he’s gotten in 3 years of vaxxing & boosting as recommended? If this sort of strategy “is a thing,” can y’all point me to timing guidance available out there, or suggest a program yourselves? His overworked (burned out?) GP doesn’t even want to talk about it.
Thanks for y’all’s advocacy and an always good podcast!
Sue
Will writes:
In yesterday’s Clinical Update you talked about active and passive vaccination.
I understand that a baby can have passive immunity from the mother for a few months after birth.
But what is passive VACCINATION? I’ve not come across the term before!
Thanks for all you do.
Will
CHINA
