Vaccine Prevented Illnesses (Photos)

This child with MEASLES, displays the characteristic red, blotchy pattern on his face and body during the third day of the rash. Immunization has decreased the incidence of measles in the U.S. by 99 percent, though outbreaks in 2008 have resulted from non-immunized people acquiring the infection while traveling abroad. Measles is highly contagious. Measles typically results in rash, fever and cough. Complications can include ear infection, croup, diarrhea and, rarely, encephalitis and death.  Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

One of the most infectious diseases in the world; if measles vaccinations were stopped, it is estimated that 2.7 million people would die worldwide.

How it spreads: Coughing, sneezing, talking.

A patient displays swelling due to MUMPS, a disease that is characterized by swelling of the salivary glands. Prior to the vaccine that was introduced in 1967, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 cases of mumps occurred in the U.S. each year.
Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before the vaccine, mumps was a major cause of deafness and brain damage in children.

How it spreads:  Coughing, sneezing, talking.

A young boy displays the characteristic rash indicative of RUBELLA, otherwise known as German measles. Rubella is a respiratory viral infection characterized by mild respiratory symptoms and low-grade fever, followed by a rash lasting about 3 days. In children, the illness may not be diagnosed since the rash may be mild and mimic other conditions. Rubella vaccination is particularly important for non-immune women who may become pregnant because of the risk for serious birth defects if they acquire the disease during pregnancy. Birth defects include deafness, cataracts, heart defects, mental retardation, and liver and spleen damage (at least a 20% chance of damage to the fetus if a woman is infected early in pregnancy).
Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

During 1964 and 1965, before the vaccine, of the 20,000 infants born with rubella syndrome, 11,600 were deaf, 3580 were blind, and 1800 were mentally retarded.

How it spreads:  Coughing or sneezing.

                                                                                                                              This child with DIPHTHERIA presented with a characteristic swollen neck, sometimes referred to as “bull neck”.           Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Before the vaccine, diphtheria caused as many as 15,520 deaths in children during one year.

How it spreads:  Direct contact with an infected person.

It can lead to breathing problems, heart failure, and death.

A preschool-aged boy displays the severe muscle contraction of TETANUS, a disease caused by bacteria in a dirt-contaminated wound. Deep-puncture wounds pose the biggest risk.
Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Without a vaccine, persons of all ages in the US could get this deadly disease.

How it spreads:  Lives in the soil and enters the body through cuts and puncture wounds.  Tetanus is NOT contagious from person to person.

It can lead to stiffness of the jaw, so the victim can't open his mouth or swallow.  It leads to death in about 1 case out of 5.

A preschool-aged boy with PERTUSSIS (whooping cough) produced thick, respiratory secretions during a severe coughing spell. Pertussis is most severe when it occurs in the first six months of life.
Photo source: AAP Red Book Online Visual Library

Before the vaccine, between 150,000 and 260,000 cases of pertussis and up to 9000 deaths were reported each year.

How it spreads:  Coughing and sneezing, highly contagious.

It can lead to pneumonia, seizures (jerking and staring spells), brain damage and death.

According to a CDC study, parents and siblings are important contributors to the spread of pertussis infection to infants and young children.

Adults who have not had a tetanus booster in the last five years should ask their physician about receiving this important vaccine.

Child has swollen face due to HIB (Haemophilus influenzae type b) infection.                                                     Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before the vaccine, Hib meningitis killed 600 children each year and left many survivors with deafness, seizures or mental retardation.

How it spreads:  Contact with an infected person; enters through the nose and throat.

It can lead to meningitis; pneumonia; infections of the blood, joints, bones and covering of the heart; brain damage; deafness; and death.

Made of stainless steel, this Emerson Respirator, also known as an "iron lung," was used by POLIO patients whose ability to breathe was stopped by the crippling viral disease. This iron lung was donated to the CDC's Global Health Odyssey by the family of polio patient Barton Hebert of Covington, La., who had used the device from the late 1950s until his death in 2003. Iron lungs encase the chest cavity in an air-tight chamber. The chamber is used to create a negative pressure around the body, causing air to rush into the lungs.
Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

This child is displaying a deformity of her right leg due to POLIO.
Photo source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Before the vaccine, 13,000 to 20,000 cases of paralytic polio were reported each year in the US; many children were left on crutches, in braces, in wheelchairs, an on iron lungs.

How it spreads:  Transmitted by person-to-person contact with contaminated water.  Some people experience no symptoms at all but are carriers who can spread the disease to others.

It can lead to paralysis; or death (by paralyzing breathing muscles).

A teenage girl is pictured with VARICELLA (chickenpox) lesions in various stages. Chickenpox tends to be more severe in adolescents and adults than in young children.
Photo source: AAP Red Book Online Visual Library

This 10-year-old, unvaccinated boy developed VARICELLA (chickenpox) with hemorrhagic lesions.
Photo source: AAP Red Book Online Visual Library

Before the vaccine, an estimated 4 million people got chickenpox, causing 11,000 hospitalizations and 100 deaths each year.

How it spreads:  Coughing, sneezing, or contact with chickenpox sores; usually occurs in children younger than 10 years of age.

HEPATITIS B (no available photo)

Approximately 25% of children who develop lifelong hepatitis B infection die of related liver disease as adults.

How it spreads:  Direct contact with infected blood; via blood transfusions, other body fluids and sexual transmission.  It can also be contracted through tatooing and body piercing.  A pregnant woman who is infected can also infect her baby.

It can lead to liver damage; liver cancer and death.

PNEUMOCOCCUS (no available photo)

Before the vaccine, about 188 of every 100,000 children younger than 2 years of age developed invasive pneumococcal disease.

How it spreads:  Coughing and sneezing.

It can lead to meningitis; blood infections, ear infections, pneumonia, deafness, brain damage and death.

ROTAVIRUS (no available photo)

Signs and symptoms include:  severe diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

How it spreads:  Contact with other children who are infected.

It can lead to dehydration, hospitalization (up to about 70,000 per year), and death.

4 month old female with gangrene of hands due to MENINGOCOCCEMIA

In 2004, an estimated 125 deaths due to meningococcal disease occurred in the US.  Infants younger than 12 months of age have the highest rates of disease.

How it spreads:  Contact with infected individual through throat (coughing and kissing).

Travel Health Web Sites

If you plan to travel in the states or out of the country, here are a few sites to check before you leave for travel recommendations and required vaccines.

CDC Traveler's Health Web Site:  www.cdc.gov/travel/destinat.htm

U.S. State Department:  http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html

WHO Global Health Atlas (communicable disease):  www.who.int/globalatlas

Back to top

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10997.html - "Immunization Safety Review:  Vaccines and Autism", a May 2004 report prepared by the Institute of Medicine (available as a free pdf download, link through "Sign in to download" and follow the instructions.

Back to top

Low Cost Immunization Clinics

      216-443-5660

Back to top