Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucivax!ucla-cs!mwfolsom%hydra.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu From: mwfolsom%hydra.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Mike Folsom) Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Re: Hepatitis B vaccine Message-ID: <39501@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Date: 29 Sep 90 21:11:55 GMT References: <39212@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <39398@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Lines: 54 Approved: phil@wubios.wustl.edu Note: Copyright 1990 by Daniel R. Greening. Permission granted for Note: non-commercial reproduction. Archive-number: 2558 In article <39398@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank) writes: >In article <39212@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Richard DeWald) writes: > >>We do have a vaccine for Hepatitis B, this may account for some of the lesser >>attention it gets. It is expensive, sometimes painful, and time consuming to >>get vaccinated for Hepatitis B, though. > >I must clear up this misconception, at least from my own experience. I wouldn't >want someone to think they shouldn't get the vaccine for the reasons stated >above. >I got the vaccine and it was neither painful nor time consuming. It required >three visits to the doctor spaced three months and six months apart. This >is hardly a time consuming activity. Once there, it was a simple painless >injection into the muscle of my arm. The only discomfort was a slight muscle >ache that lasted several hours. But this is a small price to pay for being >protected against Hepatitis B. I had a bout of non A-non B several years >ago and a bout of Hepatitis B might have finished me according to my doctor. > >ray I really wanted to agree with Ray about this. I took the vaccine about 5 years ago in Canada (for free - blessed be the name of socialized medicine) and besides a bit of soreness in the area of injection I suffered no illness because of the shot. One question though - is a booster needed? I remember reading the literature on the vaccine and it said that at that time they were not sure about the necessity of getting a booster. Hepatitis B is a nasty disease. I remember getting annoyed with friends about their refusal to spend a couple of hours to be vaccinated. Even if they had to pay for it - it was still a deal. Michael WARNING - .signature is a bit depresso! ******************************************************************************* Michael W. Folsom Dept. of Biology Univ. of New Mexico (mwfolsom@unmvm) 505-766-9327 res Albuquerque, NM 87131 ( " @unmvm.unm.edu) 505-277-3505 lab "We take stock of reality, which is like measuring the length of the chain which binds our feet. Then we say: "Is this life? Nothing more than this? A closed cycle which is repeated, always identical?" This is a dangerous hour for every man." from _Meditations on Quixote_ by J. O. Y Gasset. ******************************************************************************* -- ******************************************************************************* Michael W. Folsom Dept. of Biology Univ. of New Mexico (mwfolsom@unmvm) 505-766-9327 res