| ■ Smokers Urged to Get Pneumonia Vaccine | 2008.10.29 |
| All adult smokers under age 65 should get a pneumococcal vaccine, an influential group of experts that advises the U.S. government is recommending. The Advisory Committee on Immunization, noting that the nation's 31 million adult smokers are at higher risk of pneumococcal disease, voted 11-3 Wednesday to recommend that all adult smokers get the vaccine, the Associated Press reported. In addition to bacterial pneumonia, the shot would protect against other illnesses such as meningitis. Smokers are about four times more likely to acquire pneumococcal disease, and their risk increases the more cigarettes they smoke, the AP said. While the precise link between smoking and pneumococcal disease isn't understood, it's thought that bacteria are better able to thrive in people whose lungs and windpipe have been damaged by smoking, the wire service said. |