Infectious Diseases February 2018 Key Learnings for Today

Glo Germ Activity

Breaking the Chain of Infection through

- Immunization

Immunization

Vaccines contain small parts of specific germs, or inactivated germs. The immune system reacts to the vaccine to make the proper immunity (memory) cells. When germs enter the body at a later time, these memory cells kill them before they have a chance to infect the body.

© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2017.
Herd Immunity

• When most people in a community have been immunized against a disease, the chance of an outbreak of that disease is greatly reduced.
• Protects vulnerable people (babies too young to be immunized, people undergoing chemotherapy, elderly and other medical reasons.

By Mmmkayshea (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4

Flu Shot ‘Match’

• The flu shot contains 3 or 4 different strains of inactivated influenza (depending on which one you get).
• You want the circulating strains to be similar to those included in the yearly flu shot.
• The strains included in the flu shot change every year… that’s why it’s important to get the shot every year!

Activity: Don’t Pass it Along!

https://clipartxtras.com

Questions