Cold Chain temperature monitor
The temperature monitor "Tiny TTM", has been developed by Remonsys Ltd, UK.
It is battery-operated and small enough to fit inside a 35 mm plastic film container. It has a single, on-board thermistor sensor which covers a
temperature range of -37°C to +50°C and is capable of monitoring up to 1800 readings at varying time intervals.
It has an accuracy of +/- 0.2°C and the recording time interval can be set from 0.5 seconds up to 4.8 hours. The duration of the recording will
determine when the memory is full-- for instance, with a 30 minute interval, the memory will be full in 37 days.
The data stored can be quickly downloaded by a special cable to the serial port of a computer. It can then be displayed in nice graphs and saved under different formats using software prepared for this purpose.
The small size and design of the "Tiny TTM" makes it a useful supervisory tool and an extremely powerful monitor.
At the moment the "Tiny TTM" is being used in Azerbaijan, Sudan and Brazil in cold chain programs.
When your cold chain is not working properly and it is hard to put the finger on the faulty spot, you can order a "Tiny TTM" to help in fault finding. The current cost is approximately UK £100 for the hardware (the data logger itself) and UK £50 for the software and cable.
9.A Bit Of Theory On (US Oriented) Immunisation
The various recommendations for immunising infants, children and adults against diseases are based on medical knowledge, the availability of safe vaccines, other scientific knowledge, and on judgements by public health officials and doctors.
Each vaccine has benefits and risks associated with its use, and no vaccine is completely safe or completely effective. Vaccines are beneficial because they prevent disease infection and the various results of that infection, which may be mild symptoms such as a body rash, or more serious problems such as paralysis or death. Depending on the vaccine the benefits may vary from partial protection to complete protection against the disease or its effects.The risks associated with vaccine usage range from common, trivial, and inconvenient side effects, such as mild swelling or low grade fever, to on rare occasions severe, and life-threatening conditions.The decision to use a vaccine is based on the benefits, costs and risks associated with the vaccine. For each vaccine, recommendations are developed for its use, and these describe who should receive it, when they should receive it, and how the vaccine should be given to a person. These vaccine recommendations are developed to apply to large populations, but therecommendations may vary for specific individuals or even between countries.Finally, the relative balance of benefits and risks may change as diseases are controlled or eradicated. For example, because smallpox has been eradicated throughout the world, the risk of side effects associated with the smallpox vaccine now exceeds the risk of smallpox; consequently, smallpox vaccinations are no longer routinely given to the general public.
9.1 Why Immunize?
It’s effective
Immunisation is one of the most effective ways to prevent disease. Because immunising children has proven to be so effective at preventing disease, immunisations against specific diseases are required by all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the US for children entering day care and/or school. The widespread use of vaccines has reduced the peak-level incidence of disease in the United States by at least 95%. The vaccination series consists of 2-5 doses of each of 5 vaccines.
Most vaccines protect 90% or more of the individuals vaccinated. In addition, most vaccines when used widely in communities indirectly protect other persons as well, including those too young for vaccination
and those with legitimate medical contraindications to vaccination. This goes for anywhere in the world.
It saves lives
Experience in the United States in recent years has illustrated both the effectiveness of immunisation and the tragic consequences of failure to vaccinate properly. Before the measles vaccine was approved in 1963, an average of over 500,000 cases of measles was reported each year, killing 400 to 500 people annually. By 1983, in the United States the number of cases of measles reported had dropped to a record low of l,497.
However, a resurgence of measles between 1989 and 1991 (over 55,000 cases of measles, including 132 reported deaths) occurred primarily among
unvaccinated pre-school children. In 1990, 64 individuals died of measles, the highest number in two decades.
The biggest cause of the measles epidemic was the failure to vaccinate children on time at 12-15 months of age.
It saves money
In addition to lessening the human suffering brought about by disease, immunisation is cost-effective. It is estimated that every $1 spent on vaccinations for measles, mumps, and rubella represents a potential savings of many more dollars in treatment costs.
The measles outbreak of 1989-1991 caused over 44,000 days of
hospitalisation. Studies suggest that each 1,000 cases results in $3-4 million in direct medical treatment costs.
9.2 What Immunisations, When And Whom To Immunise
Which vaccinations against what diseases?Children should be vaccinated
against ten diseases: TB, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, rubella and hepatitis B.
All but tetanus (lockjaw) are contagious and can be transmitted from an infected person to an uninfected person.These vaccinations are necessary for a child to be adequately protected against ten serious childhood diseases that can lead to death:
ο TB, infection of the lungs, highly contagious, and/or any other organ, which can cause death if untreated.
ο Diphtheria, infection of the throat, mouth, and nose, which can cause heart failure or paralysis if untreated;
ο Tetanus (lockjaw), an infection that attacks the nervous system and kills 3 out of 10 infected people;
ο Pertussis (whooping cough), which is highly contagious and causes severe coughing and occurs mostly in children under 5 years;
ο Polio, which causes paralysis and death;
ο Measles, which is highly contagious, causes a rash and high fever and during the measles epidemic of 1989-1991 hospitalised 19% of persons with measles;
ο Mumps, which causes fever, headache and inflammation of the salivary glands; three of every ten infected people develop meningitis and inflammation of the covering of the brain and spinal cord;
ο Rubella, or "German measles", which causes fever and rash and causes severe birth defects when pregnant women are infected;
ο Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib disease), which was contracted by one out of every 200 children before the age of five before vaccines were available, affects blood, joints, bones and the covering of the heart; Hib disease was the most common cause of serious bacterial meningitis in children;
ο Hepatitis B, which causes cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
When to vaccinate?Adequate immunisation against these diseases requires
about five visits to a health care provider during the first two years of life. Approximately 80% of the vaccines needed to fully immunise child should be given at these five visits during the first two years of life.