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- iHaveNet.com
By Deborah Kotz
The worldwide death toll from swine flu is now at 700, according to the
And the U.S. government is gearing up for a mass vaccination campaign this fall, one not seen since the polio vaccine first became available in the 1950s.
Earlier this week, the
When it becomes available later this fall, should pregnant women be among the first to get it, or the last?
On the one hand, healthy pregnant women who get infected with the flu are at increased risk of serious illness and hospitalization.
In fact, the second H1N1 flu death in
On the other hand, pregnant women also are advised to be very cautious when taking any medications -- especially the newest ones -- because of unknown health risks to the developing fetus.
What's more, many folks remember the 1976 swine flu vaccination fiasco, when some 500 Americans out of the 43 million vaccinated developed Guillain-Barré syndrome a rare paralyzing condition that may have been linked to the shot.
Just today, public health experts said that there's no way to know if any rare side effects will occur in the new vaccine until millions of people are vaccinated. Those unknowns would make an expectant mom especially nervous.
There's also the question of thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that was banished from other childhood vaccines several years ago but is still used in most flu vaccines.
In a previous blog post, I quoted thimerosal researcher
He's seen from his research on infant monkeys that the mercury in thimerosal passes into the brain and remains there for months. That's not to say that a single flu shot is unsafe, he says, but it's still best for pregnant women to minimize any exposure to mercury.
The new H1N1 vaccine will come in a variety of formulations, including some that won't contain thimerosal, according to a spokesperson for
the
Pregnant women who want to avoid the compound, however, may need to search a bit to find a doctor who stocks thimerosal-free versions of both
flu vaccines. Most gynecologists don't bother because the CDC doesn't say there's any need for pregnant women to avoid thimerosal.
Most likely, the CDC will recommend that pregnant women get both vaccines this fall, but the agency hasn't yet finalized its recommendations for at-risk groups (including mothers-to-be).
In terms of other precautions pregnant women should take to minimize the risk of swine flu, the CDC advises pregnant women who have been exposed to someone infected with H1N1 to be treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
Ditto for those who have flu symptoms themselves.
This advice -- which doesn't apply to healthy women who aren't expecting -- is due to the fact that H1N1 infections have led to more severe complications in pregnant women.
One piece of swine flu advice directed at British pregnant women, though, sounds pretty shocking to me.
A few days ago the
The agency also said expecting women should avoid crowds and should limit the movements of their kids so they don't bring the virus home.
I'm guessing most pregnant women would ignore that advice--at least as long as the virus stays its course and doesn't become more dangerous.