The Importance of Vaccination for Diabetic Patients: Protecting Against Serious Infections and Diseases

Health and Medical Network / Reported by Zheng Yifen and Pan Yuqiao

One day, a diabetic patient went to the emergency department with “severe pain in the upper right abdomen”. At first, no obvious problems were found on CT scans. When the doctor asked, “Do you have any blisters or rashes on your back?” He lifted up his clothes and found that it was full of ” Shingles”, hospitalized for half a month!

▲According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s 109-year statistical data on the causes of death among Chinese people, diabetes has long been the fifth among the top ten causes of death in Taiwan. (Photo/Provided by Health and Medical Network)

When people with diabetes have poor blood sugar control, their immune function is compromised, which increases their risk of infection. Huang Jianning, chairman of the Diabetes Society of the Republic of China, said that common infections in diabetic patients include influenza, herpes zoster, new coronary pneumonia, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The risk of serious complications after infection is greatly increased. Once the diabetic group is infected, it will cause an inflammatory reaction in the body and increase blood sugar, which may lead to complications. Therefore, Huang Jianning called on people with diabetes to receive the “four major vaccines” against herpes zoster, new coronary pneumonia, influenza, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can prevent the chances of severe illness and hospitalization, and reduce mortality.

Wang Zhiyuan, chairman of the Diabetes Health Education Association of the Republic of China, explained that the probability of herpes zoster neuralgia in diabetic patients is as high as 50% compared with non-diabetic patients, and research also pointed out that the incidence of herpes zoster in diabetics may increase by 63% The chances of hospitalization, so pay special attention to these diseases and get vaccinated early for protection.

Poor blood sugar control increases the risk of herpes zoster infection

Du Side, executive director of the Diabetes Society of the Republic of China, explained that since diabetic patients themselves belong to the high-risk group of herpes zoster, according to the survey statistics of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database, as many as 1/5 of the patients with herpes zoster have diabetes, and the diabetic group has serious complications. —The probability of postherpetic neuralgia is about 1.5 times higher than that of non-diabetic groups. Du Side shared that he recently met a diabetic patient with herpes zoster around his waist in the outpatient clinic. The nerve pain caused by the disease The lesion lasted for 2 months, and the pain was so painful that he couldn’t eat or sleep well, which seriously affected his quality of daily life.

Diabetes has been among the top ten causes of death for many years, and four vaccines protect themselves

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s 109-year statistical data on the causes of death among Chinese people, diabetes has long been the fifth among the top ten causes of death in Taiwan. Huang Jianning called for the effective prevention of infection only through daily health care and vaccination. According to the latest domestic and international guidelines, the Society’s clinical guidelines working group made rolling revisions on the vaccination care recommendations for diabetes and infectious diseases on the Society’s website and provided them to Medical staff, diabetic patients and their family members refer to it, and take the initiative to consult medical institutions for vaccination information.

Yang Jinghui, head of the Acute Infectious Diseases Team of the Disease Control Agency of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said that increasing the vaccination rate of the whole society is like building a protective wall to block the spread of the virus in the community. It can not only reduce the financial burden of patients and their families, but also It can reduce the additional burden of health insurance, make the national medical expenses more cost-effective medical care, and call on the public to invest in health and protect themselves from diseases.

source: healthnews.com.tw