New Vaccinations May Be Needed in Miss.

Mississippi health officials say 750 children and adults in the Newton area may need new vaccinations because the drugs used initially may have been stored at too cold a temperature and their effectiveness weakened.

Dr. Tree James, district health officer for East Central Public Health District 6, said officials discovered the problem during their annual inspection in October and replaced the refrigerator where the vaccinations were kept.

The discovery meant any shot the department gave between October 2005 and October 2006 could have been affected, she said.

"Now we're going through each individual chart and trying to determine what revaccinations they might need. We're writing up an individual plan for each individual who might need revaccination," James told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

James said the Health Department is sending out certified letters to those whose vaccines came from the faulty refrigerator. The vaccines included shots for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus and the combination vaccine given to infants and children: diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

"We're recommending revaccinations," she said. "It doesn't make it harmful, but it can weaken the effectiveness."

Vaccines that weren't affected by the cold included shots for chicken pox and the combination vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, she said.

In cases where adults received flu shots, James said officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not recommend a second round of injections.

Medical experts say many vaccines are made up of proteins that resemble spaghetti noodles - too hot and they get soft, too cold and they break easily. These changes in temperature cause vaccines to lose their ability to immunize people from disease.

___

Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com