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The French five-component vaccine from the SANOFI PASTEUR, SA concern – Pentaxim helps fight the most common childhood infectious diseases with just 1 injection. This drug has been used for a very long time throughout the civilized world to fight infections and, despite its high cost, is in high demand.
Features of the composition Pentaxim
The Pentaxim vaccine helps to protect the human body from five infectious diseases at once – hemophilic infection, which causes a number of serious diseases (meningitis, pneumonia, purulent otitis, and others), tetanus, diphtheria, poliomyelitis and whooping cough. It contains such components as pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria, inactivated polio virus, as well as filamentous hemagglutinin.
A separate component of Pentaxim is the hemophilic component combined with tetanus toxoid. Formaldehyde and aluminum hydroxide are present as concomitant substances in the vaccine. The drug is devoid of mercury and phenol red.
The vaccine is produced in double packaging, where all components against four diseases are poured into special syringes, and the fifth hemophilic component in the form of a powder (lyophilized mass) must be dissolved by the first suspension. The vaccine is administered intramuscularly with one syringe.
The most famous analogues of Pentaxim in the world and domestic pharmaceuticals are vaccines such as three-component DPT, Hiberix, Infanrix, Infanrix Hexa, Infanrix Penta, Imovax Polio.
The main advantage of Pentaxim, in comparison with other similar drugs, is its complexity, the analogues of which have not been developed for a long time. Today, Infanrix vaccines on the market are also capable of simultaneously protecting the body from five infections at once, but this type of injection was developed relatively recently.
When using the classic DTP vaccine, it was necessary to vaccinate the child 12 times, since it did not contain a hemophilic component and polio. These vaccines were required to be administered additionally and all – 4 times.
The component of Pentaxim against whooping cough is acellular, which greatly reduces the occurrence of negative reactions to vaccination and eliminates the possibility of developing vaccine pertussis in a weakened body, in contrast to the whole-cell component in DPT.
The component aimed at combating poliomyelitis is inactivated (dead), which completely excludes the development of vaccine-associated poliomyelitis, which often occurs when inoculated with live vaccines administered orally to patients.
The vaccine has a high degree of tolerability. Because of this property, the vaccine is recommended even for people with reduced immunity. Including HIV-infected, patients with perinatal encephalopathy, prone to various allergies, patients with dysbacteriosis and others.
Each potential user who decides to be vaccinated with Pentaxim receives reliable protection and strong immunity from all 5 of the most dangerous infectious diseases against which its action is directed.
When to do and how to prepare for vaccination
On the eve of vaccination with Pentaxim, it is important to prepare the child for this procedure. Preparation is no different from other vaccinations and includes the following points:
- Before vaccination, the child is undesirable to feed, you can only drink.
- On the eve of vaccination, it is necessary to empty the intestines. If this is not achieved, vaccination should be postponed. If there are prerequisites for constipation, a day before the intended vaccination, the child should be given a mild laxative.
- It is desirable to vaccinate the body in a normal temperature state, that is, if the child is hot in clothes, it is better to undress him in the hospital, wait until he cools down, and then bring him into the treatment room.
- Before direct vaccination, it is recommended to give the child water to drink.
- After vaccination, you can feed the child with light food and only in those cases if he himself asks for it.
For several days after vaccination with Pentaxim, the child’s body temperature may increase, which is allowed and recommended to be reduced with drugs based on ibuprofen or paracetamol. In cases where the temperature does not drop after antipyretics, you should seek help from specialists.
The Pentaxim vaccine is used in children from the age of 3 months. The first vaccination, according to the special State calendar, is recommended to be done at 3 months, the second – at 4,5, and the third – at 6 months.
At the age of one and a half years, a single revaccination of a person is performed. If this schedule is not followed, you need to know that the first vaccination can be done at any age, each subsequent one must be done 1-1,5 months after the previous one, and revaccination is always carried out 12 months after the last vaccination.
It is also important to remember that if the specialists gave the first Pentaxim vaccination to a child in the interval from 6 to 12 months, the hemophilic component must be excluded during the third vaccination. Without a hemophilic component, Pentaxim vaccination can be carried out for people up to 6 years of age.
An analogue of the Pentaxim vaccine from the same manufacturer without a hemophilic component is the Tetraxim vaccine, which can replace the next vaccination in which there is no need to use a hemophilic component.
The above course of vaccination forms immunity to all diseases included in the complex of a multicomponent preparation up to the age of six. At 6 years of age, the child should be revaccinated again against tetanus, diphtheria, polio and whooping cough with any other vaccine.
All vaccines against the considered infections used in modern domestic medicine are completely interchangeable. Any revaccination or each subsequent vaccination during the initial administration of Pentaxim to a child can be replaced with the domestic DTP vaccine or the Belgian Infanrix.
It is only important to remember that the polio component of Pentaxim is inactivated, and in all monocomponent oral vaccines against this disease it is live, which can cause some inconvenience and cause a complex reaction. Therefore, if Pentaxim was initially administered to a person, then in the future it is better to vaccinate against poliomyelitis with the monocomponent drug Imovax Polio in the form of intramuscular injections.
Contraindications and side effects
The main contraindications for the use of Pentaxim are all diseases due to which the child’s body temperature rises at the moment. Also contraindications include:
- encephalopathy;
- chronic diseases in acute forms;
- a pronounced negative reaction to the previous dose of the administered drug (temperature above 40 degrees, the occurrence of seizures, severe allergies);
- intolerance to the components of the drug and allergic reactions to streptomycin, neomycin, glutaraldehyde or polymyxin B.
If febrile seizures have occurred previously (not associated with vaccination), the vaccine should be used with caution. For the next two days after the vaccination, the child must be given an antipyretic and carefully monitor the normalization of body temperature.
After the Pentaxim vaccination, side effects may occur in the form of seals and redness of the injection sites, pain in this area when pressed. Also, the temperature often rises to 38, less often to 39 degrees, the sleep pattern is disturbed, the child may cry for no reason and refuse to eat.
All of the above side effects are normal and in the absence of any medical indication to control the child, they do not require special medical attention. After 3-5 days, they usually disappear.
It is very rare, but it happens that the body temperature rises to 40 degrees, a rash (urticaria) appears on the skin, febrile or afebrile (that is, not dependent on temperature rise) convulsions begin, anaphylactic shock occurs or pressure drops sharply.
If such complications occur, it is categorically not recommended to engage in the expectation of improvements or self-treatment, it is urgently necessary to show the child to the doctor.
Thus, the Pentaxim vaccine has a number of significant advantages over all its analogues in the world, since the process of its vaccination is divided into only 4 visits to vaccination rooms, while the medicine protects the child from 5 severe infections at once. The components included in the vaccine are inactivated, they are highly purified, which makes Pentaxim easier for the immune system. Such a vaccination in most cases is easier and better tolerated by a fragile child’s body.