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- Can a child bring their medicines to school?
- What are the guidelines for keeping a sick child at home?
- What is the policy concerning lice?
- About Meningitis
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Can a child bring their medicines to school?
No, the parent must bring in the medications and must sign the appropriate
paperwork. For OTC medicines, the bottle must be unopened. For prescription
medicines, a physicians signature is required.
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What are the guidelines for keeping a sick child at home?
Keep your child at home for the following conditions for at least 24hr:
Temperature over 100 degrees or more.
Yellow drainage from eyes and/or matting of eyes, which could indicate pink
eye.
Vomitting and/or diarrhea.
Sore throat, stomch ache,and headache accompanied by swollen glands around
the jaws, ears, and neck.
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What is the policy concerning lice?
The Wilson County school system has a nit and lice free policy. If lice is
suspected, the child will be checked for nits and lice and if any is found,
they will be sent home. All other siblings will be checked as well. Also,
the class the child was in will be checked. A letter is sent home to inform
all parents that lice has been found in the classroom so that parents can
keep an eye on their own children, as well and check their heads on a
regular basis. After the child has been sent home and the parent has treated
the child, the parent then can bring the child back to school to be checked
by the nurse to make sure they are nit and lice free. The child cannot ride
the bus or go to class until the nurse has checked the child and found no
lice or nits.
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About Meningitis
MENINGOCOCCALVACCINES
1 What is meningococcal disease?
W H A T Y O U N E E D T O K N O W
3 Who should get meningococcal
vaccine and when?
Both vaccines work well, and protect about 90% of
people who get them. MCV4 is expected to give better,
longer-lasting protection.
MCV4 should also be better at preventing the disease
from spreading from person to person.
Meningococcal disease is a serious bacterial illness. It is
a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children 2
through 18 years old in the United States. Meningitis
is an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and
spinal cord.
Meningococcal disease also causes blood infections.
About 1,000 - 2,600 people get meningococcal disease
each year in the U.S. Even when they are treated with
antibiotics, 10-15% of these people die. Of those who
survive, another 11-19% lose their arms or legs, become
deaf, have problems with their nervous systems, become
mentally retarded, or suffer seizures or strokes.
Anyone can get meningococcal disease. But it is most
common in infants less than one year of age and people
with certain medical conditions, such as lack of a
spleen. College freshmen who live in dormitories, and
teenagers 15-19 have an increased risk of getting
meningococcal disease.
Meningococcal infections can be treated with drugs
such as penicillin. Still, about 1 out of every ten people
who get the disease dies from it, and many others are
affected for life. This is why preventing the disease
through use of meningococcal vaccine is important for
people at highest risk.
2 Meningococcal vaccine
Many Vaccine Information Statements are available in Spanish and other
languages. See www.immunize.org/vis.
There are two kinds of meningococcal vaccine in the U.S.:
- Meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4) was
licensed in 2005. It is the preferred vaccine for
people 2 through 55 years of age.
- Meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (MPSV4)
has been available since the 1970s. It may be used if
MCV4 is not available, and is the only meningococcal
vaccine licensed for people older than 55.
Both vaccines can prevent 4 types of meningococcal
disease, including 2 of the 3 types most common in the
United States and a type that causes epidemics in
Africa. Meningococcal vaccines cannot prevent all
types of the disease. But they do protect many people
who might become sick if they didn’t get the vaccine.
A dose of MCV4 is recommended for children and
adolescents 11 through 18 years of age.
This dose is normally given during the routine preadolescent
immunization visit (at 11-12 years). But
those who did not get the vaccine during this visit
should get it at the earliest opportunity.
Meningococcal vaccine is also recommended for other
people at increased risk for meningococcal disease:
• College freshmen living in dormitories.
• Microbiologists who are routinely exposed to
meningococcal bacteria.
• U.S. military recruits.
• Anyone traveling to, or living in, a part of the world
where meningococcal disease is common, such as
parts of Africa.
• Anyone who has a damaged spleen, or whose spleen
has been removed.
• Anyone who has terminal complement component
deficiency (an immune system disorder).
• People who might have been exposed to meningitis
during an outbreak.
MCV4 is the preferred vaccine for people 2 through 55
years of age in these risk groups. MPSV4 can be used if
MCV4 is not available and for adults over 55.
How Many Doses?
People 2 years of age and older should get 1 dose.
Sometimes a second dose is recommended for people
who remain at high risk. Ask your provider.
MPSV4 may be recommended for children 3 months to
2 years of age under special circumstances. These
children should get 2 doses, 3 months apart.
4
Some people should not get
meningococcal vaccine or
should wait
• Anyone who has ever had a severe (life-threatening)
allergic reaction to a previous dose of either
meningococcal vaccine should not get another dose.
• Anyone who has a severe (life threatening) allergy to
any vaccine component should not get the vaccine.
Tell your provider if you have any severe allergies.
• Anyone who is moderately or severely ill at the time
the shot is scheduled should probably wait until they
recover. Ask your provider. People with a mild illness
can usually get the vaccine.
• Anyone who has ever had Guillain-Barré Syndrome
should talk with their provider before getting MCV4.
• Meningococcal vaccines may be given to pregnant
women. However, MCV4 is a new vaccine and has
not been studied in pregnant women as much as
MPSV4 has. It should be used only if clearly needed.
• Meningococcal vaccines may be given at the same
time as other vaccines.
5 What are the risks from
meningococcal vaccines?
A vaccine, like any medicine, could possibly cause
serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. The
risk of meningococcal vaccine causing serious harm,
or death, is extremely small.
Mild problems
As many as half the people who get meningococcal
vaccines have mild side effects, such as redness or pain
where the shot was given.
If these problems occur, they usually last for 1 or 2 days.
They are more common after MCV4 than after MPSV4.
A small percentage of people who receive the vaccine
develop a fever.
Severe problems
• Serious allergic reactions, within a few minutes to
a few hours of the shot, are very rare.
• A serious nervous system disorder called Guillain-
Barré Syndrome (or GBS) has been reported among
some people who received MCV4. This happens so
rarely that it is currently not possible to tell if the
vaccine might be a factor. Even if it is, the risk is
very small.
6 What if there is a moderate or
severe reaction?
8 How can I learn more?
• Ask your doctor or nurse. They can give you the
vaccine package insert or suggest other sources of
information.
• Call your local or state health department.
• Contact the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC):
- Call 1-800-232-4636 (1-800-CDC-INFO)
- Visit CDC’s National Immunization Program
website at www.cdc.gov/vaccines
- Visit CDC’s meningococcal disease website at
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/meningococcal_g.htm
- Visit CDC’s Travelers’ Health website at
wwwn.cdc.gov/travel
department of health and human services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
What should I look for?
• Any unusual condition, such as a high fever,
weakness, or behavior changes. Signs of a serious
allergic reaction can include difficulty breathing,
hoarseness or wheezing, hives, paleness, weakness, a
fast heart beat or dizziness.
What should I do?
• Call a doctor, or get the person to a doctor right away.
• Tell your doctor what happened, the date and time
it happened, and when the vaccination was given.
• Ask your doctor, nurse, or health department to
report the reaction by filing a Vaccine Adverse
Event Reporting System (VAERS) form.
Or you can file this report through the VAERS web
site at www.vaers.hhs.gov, or by calling
1-800-822-7967.
VAERS does not provide medical advice.
A federal program exists to help pay for the care of anyone
who has had a rare serious reaction to a vaccine.
For information about the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program, call 1-800-338-2382 or visit
their website at www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation.
7 The National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program
Meningococcal 1/28/08 Vaccine Information Statement (Interim)
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-mening.pdf
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