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Biotech / Medical : Share your aches,pains,experiences,joys and cures. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (977)	7/8/2007 9:40:25 AM
From: Suma	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1564

Those over 60 have a better chance of contracting Shingles which plagues a great many Americans but one hears little about the disease. The recent experience of two friends led me to get a Shingles vaccine this past week. Medicare does not cover it so it cost me about $ 225.00 but the following story will make it understandable as to why this is not bad. A 78 year old friend who robust health who walked the treadmill at the gym, ate only the most healthy foods awoke one morning about 9 weeks ago shaking... She was not even aware that her body was doing this so she was taken to the ER as the symptoms were axiomatic to a stroke. Long story shortened.. She had Shingles but it was not diagnosable immediately so she was shipped to Charlotte where tests revealed that she had a tumor on her ovaries too so she underwent a hysterectomy.. The Shingles which were included in diagnosis had infiltrated her brain, hence the shaking. She was on IV for days in the hospital until a stint was prepared for her to have the antibiotics administered at home 3 times a day to her brain. She is unable to use her one arm, reports that the pain in it at night is unbearable and it is a shooting pain too. She said that she would have paid ANY amount of money had she thought about having the Shingles vaccine.. She is still recovering and walking a track at the gym SLOWLY. She looks terrible having lost a lot of weight.Basically she had meningitis... So much for a new LIVE vaccine which gave me symptoms but which eventually diminished.... Anyone who has ever had chicken pox is more susceptible as is anyone UNDER STRESS which lowers the immune system.

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (977)	7/8/2007 1:56:00 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Respond to of 1564

Meningitis is caused by a bacteria or a virus. Generally, they are quite host specific ( virus are ) but some bacteria are zoonotic( human to animal transmission and vice versa ). Bacterial M. is the highly deadly kind that can be passed on via various contact. Salmonella species generally have an infective dose of a million organisms so you need to eat the stuff to get sick...................Shigella is down in the hundreds and E.coli is also lower ( the nasty strains of E.coli .) Washing hands and keeping foods cold will go a long ways toward keeping these bacteria from causing illness.