Q: I get a flu shot every year. Don’t I need a pneumonia shot, too?
What many people call the “pneumonia shot” is actually a vaccine that protects you from being infected by a particular type of bacteria instead of against a particular disease.
This bacteria has several names: pneumococcus, Streptococcus pneumonia and S. pneumoniae. The vaccine that protects against it is called pneumococcal vaccine, which is designed to protect you against life-threatening infections of the lungs (pneumonia), the blood and the brain (meningitis).
Amazingly, pneumococcus bacteria doesn’t ALWAYS cause serious infection. It’s not unusual to find it living in our nose or throat from time to time without causing any signs or symptoms of infection. Having bacteria living on our skin or inside our bodies without causing an infection is called colonization. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) based in Atlanta estimates that up to 10% of all Americans are colonized with pneumococcus at any one time and most of us have been colonized with it at some point during the past year.
The most common infection caused by pneumococcus is a bacterial ear infection in children called otitis media. Before a vaccine became available in 1997, pneumococcus was responsible for 5 million cases of otitis media in children every year.
S. pneumoniae got its name from its ability to cause pneumonia, the most deadly complication of contracting influenza or “the flu”. Between 100,000 and 135,000 adults each year are hospitalized with life-threatening pneumonia caused by pneumococcal bacteria.
Other serious infections caused by pneumococcal infection include a blood infection called bacteremia and meningitis, infection of the lining of the brain. According to the CDC this bacteria is responsible for 1 out of every 5 cases of meningitis in the United States and is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children under 5 years of age.
Meningitis from infection with S. pneumonia is very difficult to treat with antibiotics. 40% of adults over the age of 65 who contract pneumococcal meningitis will die and those who survive are often left with permanent damage to their brain and nervous system.
The CDC’s Active Bacterial Core Surveillance System documented 41,000 cases of serious pneumococcal disease with 4,900 deaths during 2006, and consider it one of the most preventable causes of death in the United States.
The populations at greatest risk for serious disease are children who are younger than 2 years old and adults 65 years old and older. At this time there are 2 different pneumococcal vaccines used in the United States, one for each of these two age groups.
Most adults will need only 1 shot in order to achieve lifetime immunity, although in certain medical conditions a second shot may be recommended.
You SHOULD get vaccinated with pneumococcal vaccine IF:
1. You are over 65 years old and have never had the vaccine.
2. You have had one vaccination but you were not yet 65 years old at the time AND it has been at least 5 years since your first vaccination.
3. You are not yet 65 years old but have a medical condition that puts you at a higher risk of getting a serious infection. A medical condition that increases your risk would include cigarette smoking, diabetes, asthma, heart or lung disease, kidney or liver disease, or an impaired immune system including HIV infection or AIDS, cancer, or an organ transplant. Additional conditions that have been linked to serious disease are having a cochlear implant to treat severe hearing loss or having fluid leaking from your brain.
4. You are not yet 65 years old but have a medical condition that puts you at a higher risk of getting a serious infection AND it has been at least 5 years since your first vaccination.
Unlike influenza vaccine, with just one shot your pneumococcal vaccination should last a lifetime.
