Discover the Science of Health
An old disease is making a comeback, possibly due to a bacterial mutation. Seventeen states and Washington D.C. are reporting an increase in whooping cough this year. It’s an epidemic in Texas, on pace to be the worst in half a century [1]. The very young are most at risk.
Pregnant mothers’ exposure to the flu was associated with a nearly fourfold increased risk that their child would develop bipolar disorder in adulthood, in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings add to mounting evidence of possible shared underlying causes and illness processes with schizophrenia, which some studies have also linked to prenatal exposure to influenza.
During pregnancy, women need to take special care to avoid becoming ill. There are several reasons for this. The first is that a pregnant woman’s immune system is not as strong during pregnancy as it generally is; this helps to prevent the mother’s body from attacking the developing fetus. Unfortunately, however, the weakened immune system also means that pregnant mothers are more susceptible to pathogens that they’d otherwise fight off relatively easily. Increased susceptibility aside, there’s also the concern that some illnesses — influenza included — can impact the developing fetus. Finally, there’s the simple fact that many of the medications used to treat illnesses and their accompanying symptoms aren’t appropriate for pregnant women.
Question: I once got a flu shot and then came down with the flu afterward. Now I won’t get the shot anymore. Why did the shot give me the flu?
