Just Jenney

My understanding is that you will. Essentially, the State Dept cannot deny you the visa because a required vaccination is unavailable in your country. However, the Varicella vaccine IS available (obviously) in the States, and it seems to complete the the medical supplement you will be required to either 1) have the vaccine once in the US or 2) have some evidence (blood test, etc.) for why you wouldn't require it.

Here is a link regarding the Vaccination Supplement (Adobe Acrobat required):

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/generalvac.pdf

You can also read more about it on Shusterman's site here:

http://www.shusterman.com/vacc.html

~ Jenney

Rete

Just curious why you said chicken pox runs rampant in the US among children. On what statistic do you base this statement.


Thanks

Rete

MrsLondon

That is my point about bureaucracy. Why on earth should someone get the MMR if they've had measles, mumps and german measles!

Just Jenney

Apparently only the MMR was available, not separate vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella. Mark only had measles, not the other two, so he still needed vaccinations for those regardless. Since the vaccinations were only available in one combined jab, that's what he got.

I don't disagree with you, but I can also see the logic of it as well.

~ Jenney

Gryphon

Personally, all health issues aside and notwithstanding, I think it's just another cash grab by the government ;-)

Christian Herboth

"Rete" wrote:

    > As for Leslie's question, I was under the impression (and a more
    > knowledgable person pls correct me if I'm wrong) that if you can show
    > that you have had the disease through valid physician's records and/or
    > an anti-body test, that you were exempt from having to get them again.
That is right. When I went for my physical for my I-130 here in Germany
I was told by the doctor and also by the documentation that I had from
the consulate that if I don't want to have a particular shot that is
required
by my age group I can either proof that I already had that disease by
a) showing my vaccination records (mine were 30 years old and apparently
not complete)
or
b) getting an antibody test
As I went through doctor from doctor here (it is shocking to find out how
little doctors know about these vaccinations) I finally ended up at a center
for tropical diseases. The doctor there was very helpful and he laughed
when he saw the requirements (quote: wouldn't it be easier to have your
wife move here ?). I got my MMR shot in the end and everything was
allright..... On a sidenote - the doctor also told me that I would have to
carry the x-ray with me in my carry-on luggage but the INS guy at my
POE Pittsburgh told me that they don't ask for that and that I am free
to either destroy it or give it to my doctor here in the US. But maybe
that's
different for different POE's.......

Christian

desusa

The fact that a person has once had a disease does not automatically mean that they will never get that disease again. Your immunity does wear off after a number of years as your circulating antibodies to those diseases decrease. This is why certain vaccines are recommended for every five to ten years. I don't think there is anything wrong with the US trying to keep the prevalence of some diseases to a minimum, even if it seems 'inconvenient' to the immigrant.

Marcus Mueller

friends:

A further observation on the BCG, though it should be noted that I am
not a medical doctor.

As a child, I received the BCG immunization in England. When I first
came to the states on a student visa (F-1), was injection/scratch
tested for TB, a large welt appeared indicating positive, but an X-ray
revealed that the positive reading was false.

Years later, the same TB test for the INS medical. This time, an
extremely positive reaction, huge welt, but, again, after X-rays, the
positive reaction was discovered to be false.

The INS certified doctor, who seemed very knowledgable about this, in
the "exit interview" asked me whether i had had the BCG as a child
(actually, i was about 14 at the time). He then said that after ten
years of receiving the innoculation, only about 50% of BCG recipients
would test positive in this manner. He also told me, however, that if
the false positive had not gone away by that time, the reaction would
only continue to get more severe to the test. Looking at the huge
welt on my arm, he cautioned me that, in the future, I should refuse
the test and instead request X-rays; he said that any future test
could possibly result in quite severe tissue damage.

Just something that we should perhaps consider. I would welcome the
opinion of a qualified voice . . . .

best, marcus




On Thu, 03 Apr 2003 23:55:52 +0000, Thyla
wrote:

    >Originally posted by ccalgreen
    >> Wait, TB vaccination isn't even on the list for the visas, is it?
    >>
    >As a note to people who did get the BCG vaccine for TB - when they
    >test you for TB (the skin test), you may get a false positive. Do not
    >be worried about this - you can get a chest xray that confirms you do
    >not have TB.
    >--

meauxna

I see your winky face with this, but really, how is the government making cash from this procedure? The MDs, yeah, but I don't think they've pushed to legislate the vaccines so they can make $$ from them.

Jewels

Rete wrote in message news:...
    > Originally posted by Jewels
    > > Just curious why you said chicken pox runs rampant in the US among
    > children. On what statistic do you base this statement.
    >
    >
    > Thanks
    >
    > Rete

Common childhood dieases
I have 4 children and all have had it this year. Unless the child is
quarrentined other stand a high chance of contracting it. If you read
up on Varicella in any medical book you would understand it fully.
Most dangerous when you become older. Most people get it 1 time but
could possibly contract it 2 times depending on the severity the first
time and their immune system.

Pallyn

[QUOTE]Originally posted by desusa
The fact that a person has once had a disease does not automatically mean that they will never get that disease again. Your immunity does wear off after a number of years as your circulating antibodies to those diseases decrease. This is why certain vaccines are recommended for every five to ten years.

The boosters are necessary for the immunity that vaccines create. If you have had the disease, you should not need boosters to stay immune. Sometimes, especially when the infection itself is not very severe, the immunity conferred by getting the disease is not complete. People in this situation can get the disease a second time.

lairdside

Firstly, as many people have already noted there IS a vaccine for TB - commonly known as the BCG ( bacillus Calmette-Guerin ). It is however derived from a bacterial strain that causes TB in cows. Yet BCG is not administered routinely in the US and many other countries because the efficacy of BCG is variable, and the vaccine sensitizes individuals to the diagnostic test for TB.

There is research , I'm not exactly how much progress has been made over the last year or so, to create a better vaccine that involves manipulating virulent human-infecting strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A vaccine derived from strains of TB that infect humans rather than cows may prove more effective and could result in a vaccine that would not interfere with the tuberculin skin test. It involves different strategies involving manipulating virulent human-infecting strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mixing phage vectors with live strains of M. tuberculosis, a leucine auxotroph, using the signature tag mutagenesis method to find a strain of M. tuberculosis that fails to secrete lipids that allow it to survive an immune onslaught and to identify mutants that fail to develop rope-like chains characteristic of wild type strains (by isolating a strain lacking an enzyme that could insert a cyclopropyl group on the mycolic acids, which meant that the bacteria did not form the rope-like structures, and therefore did not persist. )

There is also work being done to improve BCG by getting it to overexpress its own antigens.

Ranjini

I am aware of that... Sorry I didn't make myself clear. What I meant was that there was no TB vaccination required for K1. That was the question the original poster was asking....

lairdside

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Pallyn

Immune memory cells do not require continuing stimulation from viral antigen to maintain their disease-fighting capabilities. Memory CD8 T cells evolve their own independent "lifestyle" that allows them to retain a "response ready" mode over the long term.

Acute viral infections induce two types of long-term memory – humoral immunity, in which B cells produce antibodies to prevent infection by viruses, and cellular immunity, in which T cells activated by specific viral antigens kill the virus-infected cells and also produce cytokines— proteins that prevent the growth of viruses and make cells resistant to viral infection.

CD8 T cells can be divided into three distinct populations: naïve, effector and memory cells. Naïve CD8 T cells are activated and become effector cells in the presence of viral antigen. Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC Class I) molecules play a primary role in this effector response by "presenting" antigen of invading pathogens to T cell receptors, which in turn recognize the pathogens and attack them. This effector response lasts for only a few weeks, after which about 95% of effector cells die and the remainder become memory cells, poised to mount an even stronger and more rapid immune response to future invasions by the same virus.

Although naïve T cells require ongoing contact with MHC Class I molecules to maintain themselves, memory T cells can survive and also undergo slow division without the MHC-T cell interactions until they reach homeostasis—their optimal limit of effectiveness. Not only do the memory T cells persist indefinitely, they also retain their ability for rapid response, through cytokines, to repeat encounters with the original viral antigen.

It's a common misconception which research is now proving to be incorrect - sory about all the histopathological blagh - I don't know any other way to explain it without being hellishly inaccurate. All of this stuff is the VERY cut down version.

lairdside

Ahh.. you replied to an answer but didn't type what you actually intended to say.. I do that all the time ! lmao ( especially in the wee hours of the morning... ). Still a new TB vaccine is badly needed EVERYWHERE, it's not just a problem for the developing countries and hopefully we'll have one soon