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Immmunizations & Vaccine Glossary
Immunizations & Vaccine Glossary
Acetominophen - A non-aspirin drug that reduces pain and lowers fever. It goes by several brand names, including Tylenol®.
Antibody - A protein produced by the immune system that helps identify and destroy foreign germs (viruses or bacteria) that attack the body.
Bacteremia - Presence of bacteria in the blood.
Convulsion - An individual’s body shakes rapidly and uncontrollably. During convulsions, the person’s muscles contract and relax repeatedly. (See Seizure.)
Encephalitis - Inflammation of the brain.
Encephalopathy - Any illness that affects the brain.
Epidemic - A large outbreak of disease (see outbreak). An epidemic could include many people from the same city, community, or even from an entire country. A world-wide epidemic is called a pandemic.
Exposure - Contact with the germs that cause disease. A person must be both exposed to a disease and susceptible to it (see susceptible) to get sick from the disease.
Febrile Seizure - A seizure caused by a high fever (see seizure).
Immune - Protected from a disease, even when exposed to it. People can become immune after getting a disease or by getting vaccinated against the disease. Opposite of susceptible.
Immunity - Protection from disease. Having antibodies to a disease organism generally makes a person immune.
Local Reaction - A reaction that is restricted to a small area. With vaccines, a local reaction is usually redness, soreness, or swelling where the injection was given.
Meningitis - Inflammation of the covering of the brain or spinal cord.
Outbreak - An unusually large number of cases of a disease occurring around the same time and place, involving people who all got the disease from the same source or from each other.
Paralysis - Inability to move the muscles. Paralysis usually occurs in the arms or legs, but any muscle can become paralyzed, including those that control breathing.
Schedule - (Or vaccination schedule.) The ages and/or intervals at which children should received the various childhood immunizations.
Seizure - A spell in which the muscles may jerk uncontrollably, or in which the patient simply stares at nothing. Usually, a seizure lasts only a brief time and does not cause permanent damage. The seizure may have many causes, including (but not limited to) epilepsy other brain disorders, or a high fever - see febrile seizure. Also called convulsion or fit.
Systemic Reaction - A reaction that affects the entire body, such as a fever or bacteremia (bacteria in the blood).
Susceptible - Vulnerable to disease. Someone who has never had a disease or been vaccinated against it, is susceptible to that disease. The opposite of immune. A person who is immune is no longer susceptible to that disease.
Toxin - Poison. A poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms. Toxins vary in their severity, from minor and acute (like a bee sting) to almost immediately deadly.
