Vaccination and Immunization

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Now more than ever you are on the front lines in the battle to get children immunized against dangerous diseases. More than 1 in 8 parents have adopted an alternative vaccination schedule for their children, with almost twice that number saying they do not believe the government’s recommended schedule is the best one to follow. You might be shocked to find out how dramatically risk increases when even 1 scheduled vaccine is skipped.

The July 2006 issue, which featured an update on STDs, included a case on primary syphilis in a teenager (page 427). Therapy with intramuscular penicillin G (weekly for 3 weeks) or ceftriaxone (daily for 2 weeks) was recommended. However, the CDC's newly published guidelines on STD treatment recommend therapy with a single intramuscular dose of 2.4 million units of penicillin G.1 If the patient is allergic to penicillin, the alternative is therapy with doxycycline (100 mg orally bid for 14 days) or tetracycline (500 mg qid for 14 days). Ceftriaxone is not a recommended treatment for syphilis.