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Mon 1 Nov, 2004 10:13 am
Obviously HIV patients and people with AID's have impaired immune systems as do cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Elderly patients and people fighting chronic disease also have reduced resistance to outside infections.
Are there any other medical or social conditions which weaken the immune system?
Walter is online, he should know this exactly because he said ,among other, that he worked with AIDS patients.
How stuff works: Immune System
http://health.howstuffworks.com/immune-system.htm
Noddy, why do you ask?
By plugging in the words "Impaired Immune System" into google, I got something more specific.
Quote:Impaired immune system
Some conditions and medications weaken or impair the immune system, which is the body's natural defense system against infection. Examples of conditions and medications that impair the immune system include:
Alcohol or drug abuse or withdrawal.
Cancer.
Chemotherapy.
Conditions in which the body's immune system reacts to its own tissues as if they were foreign substances (autoimmune disorders).
Corticosteroids.
Diabetes.
Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Intravenous (IV) drug use.
Medications taken to suppress the immune system and prevent the body from rejecting an organ transplant.
Surgery to remove the spleen (splenectomy).
People who have impaired immune systems have a higher-than-average risk of developing infection. Vaccinations and medications need to be considered to prevent infections in people with an impaired immune system.
link
And sometimes the immune system is deliberately suppressed, if this wasn't mentioned in littlek's links, most commonly for organ transplants.
I'm on the borderline between fit and frail for a flu shot. Mr. Noddy who is definitely high priority (over sixty five and diabetic for 40 years with all of the ravages that disease can inflict) has decided that he's not going to go chasing a flu shot.
I'm not sure whether I'm going to argue with him or just look for a shot for myself.
Immune response typically declines with age, also.
The shots aren't live virus, but they can make you feel crummy for a day or two.
I'd get the shot if I were you.
Noddy, if he won't and you can, it'd be good for both of you if you do.
littlek--
I know. I hate shaving points, but....
I have an disease known as hystoplasmosis. It's oportunistic, meaning it waits for my immune system to be depressed and then may or may not activate. Basically it's a fungis picked up in childhood (probably from birds in the barn) that now resides in my lungs. It can "release" when I get overly tired / stressed. Has happened twice and caused me to lose some vision (presumed ocular hystoplasmosis). Can infect other organs as well.
I probably qualify for a flu shot, but won't bother.
Mr. Noddy better get one though or you can tell him he'll have ME to deal with. He doesn't want THAT!
(Hoping someone else here that's closer by has my back on that threat!)
I was on the pre-shortage flu shot recipient list, but not on the post-shortage list. I care for a baby (a year now, over a year by winter). He got a flu shot (I think), but I didn't.
Oooh, my old boss would be interested in youuuu, Squinney.
It's not this flu I am so worried about, personally, though I worry for those who get it who will have it be lifethreatening...
I am more worried about future flu jumps re birds and pigs and humans, and our, at least in the u.s., but also worldwide, lack of readiness.
When I was a young'n, I say kiddingly, but geez, time flies, I spent a lot of my premed minded teen life reading medical history. That girds one's loins to panic.
Anybody else read Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis? That was the book that cemented my choice of bacteriology as a major.. (I think there was a movie.)
This flu seems a rather humdrum affliction, but the threatened avian flu....that sounds deadly serious.
They have been talking ALOT recently on the news about gathering the nations appropriate officials and flu vaccine manufacturers from around the world to prepare for a flu pandemic.
Not sure what the difference is between a pandemic and epidemic, but I believe they are meeting this week or next to discuss it.
I agree that the jumping from species to species and transferring of disease seems to be on the rise lately. Will have to check out Arrowsmith. Boy Cub and I love Sinclaire Lewis.
Pandemic is a worldwide epidemic. You can have an epidemic in the city where you live and nowhere else, but in this age of easy worldwide travel, pandemics become more possible.
Chronic Fatique Syndrome and Epstein-Barr are other examples of suspected immune problems. Some doctors think that in the case of CFS, the immune system reacts to a perceived threat (infection, etc.) and then can't switch back to normal mode and may account for the stupdifying fatigue. All they have right now is a lot of theories, but no real course of action or treatment. I was diagnosed with CFS about 13 years ago and it took 10 or better years to get to the point where I believe I am no longer ill. Still makes me nervous if I get tired in the early afternoon.
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