Adolescents

About

Adolescents may pass on infectious diseases to other people through direct or indirect contact with them. These diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites or fungi.

A vaccine preventable disease is an infectious disease that can be prevented or have its impact reduced by immunisation.

Recommended Vaccines For Adolescents

In Australia, adolescents are immunised through the school immunisation program with:

• Meningococcal ACWY in Year 10
• Pertussis (Whooping Cough) booster due to waning immunity. The optimal age for receiving the booster shot is 11-13 years old, using Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (dTpa vaccine)
• Human Papilloma Virus in Year 7

Other vaccines for adolescents include:

• Pneumococcal vaccination – available under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders aged 15 years
• Meningococcal B – available in South Australia

Vaccine Preventable Diseases In Adolescents

Meningococcal Disease

Meningococcal disease is transmitted from one person to another by close, prolonged and intimate contact, like living in the same house or kissing. The spread of the disease is through the infected secretions from the back of the nose and throat. The bacteria can only survive a few seconds outside the body so they cannot be picked up from surfaces, swimming pools, buildings or animals. About one in five adolescents can have meningococcal bacteria in their throat or nose. These very rarely cause illness, but can be transmitted to others more susceptible and cause illness. Teenagers have the highest carriage rates, peaking in 19-year-olds, and so play an important role in transmission.

Cause

Meningococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. The most common strains worldwide are A, B, C, W and Y.

How serious is the risk?

Meningococcal is a rare but very serious infection which progresses very quickly. In Australia, even with antibiotic treatment, 5-11% of those with the illness will die. About 10-30% of adolescents who survive the infection will develop limb deformities, skin scarring, deafness and blindness.

For more information about Meningococcal Disease, see here.

Diphtheria

Diphtheria can be passed from person to person via respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing. It can also be transmitted by touching the open sores of an infected person.

Diphtheria is rare in Australia due to a school-based vaccination program since the 1930s.

Cause

Diphtheria is an acute illness caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

How serious is the risk?

The bacteria can produce a toxin that can cause life threatening heart failure and paralysis. Even with treatment 1 in 10 people with respiratory diphtheria will die.

Tetanus

Tetanus can be transmitted by spores of tetanus bacteria in the environment, including the soil, dust and manure. They can enter the body through breaks in the skin caused by objects like nails or needles, burns and wounds contaminated with dirt or faeces.

Tetanus is rare in Australia due to high vaccination rates.

Cause

Tetanus (also called lockjaw) is an infection caused by the bacterium called Clostridium tetani.

How serious is the risk?

Serious health problems can occur from tetanus like tightening of the vocal cords, broken bones, blood clots in the lungs and serious lung infections like pneumonia. In Australia, the case fatality rate is 2%.

Pertussis

Pertussis is highly contagious and only found in humans. It spreads by airborne droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs. the droplets can be breathed in by others or passed on to others by touching a contaminated surface.

People with pertussis are most infectious in the first three weeks after the onset of symptoms.

Cause

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough is caused by the bacterium bordetella pertussis.

How serious is the risk?

Babies are at greatest risk of severe disease and death from pertussis. Adolescents are a significant reservoir of infection and can transmit pertussis to babies particularly if they are household contacts.

Adolescents may also develop pertussis and have a cough that persists for 3 months.

Severe complications can include pneumonia, lack of oxygen to the brain and death.

For more information about pertussis see here.

HPV

HPV is a common virus that affects people of all genders, which is passed from person to person through sexual contact. HPV can stay in the body for years, causing changes to cells that can lead to a wide range of HPV-related cancers and other serious diseases.

Cause

HPV is a highly contagious virus that is transmitted through different forms of sexual contact.

How serious a risk is HPV?

There are many different types of HPV which target different parts of the body. Approximately 40 types of HPV affect the genital area and spread from person to person through sexual contact. HPV types 16 and 18 are the most common causes of HPV-related cancers. HPV can cause cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, some head and neck cancers, and genital warts. Types 16 and 18 cause up to 80 per cent of cervical cancers and 90 per cent of HPV-related cancers in males. Types 6 and 11 cause approximately 95 per cent of genital warts.

For more information about HPV see here.