In response to an upsurge in measles cases among school-age children and on college campuses, the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that all children receive two doses of the measles vaccine.
During school outbreaks, the aap recommends that all students and their siblings be revaccinated if they were born after Jan. 1, 1957 and did not get two doses of vaccine after their first birthday.
The new policy recommends that the first dose be administered as part of a combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine at 15 months of age. The combined vaccination should be readministered before a child enters junior-high school or middle school, the group said.
The aap formerly recommended that a single dose of the combined vaccine be given at 15 months of age.
The American Federation of Teachers has established a new project to help teachers and other school personnel learn more about aids.
Last month, the union announced that it was using a $1 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to help 12 pilot sites develop aids policies for students and employees and to distribute aids-education materials to teachers.
Union officials said they were planning to hold in-service training sessions for teachers and to work with community groups to develop aids policies.
The union also said that because some of its members work in non-school settings, such as health clinics or social-service agencies, some of the new activities would be geared toward helping union members provide information about the disease to youths who do not attend school.
fs6 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has reported that despite the national interest in physical fitness, many children and adolescents continue to be out of shape.
In its status report on the 1990 national health objectives addressing physical fitness, the cdc said the nation was unlikely to meet the goal of having at least 60 percent of all children between the ages of 10 and 17 participate in daily school physical-education programs.
It said that in 1984, more than 90 percent of children in grades 5-8 were enrolled in physical-education classes, but fewer than half of those enrolled had these classes daily. High-school students were less likely to be enrolled in physical-education classes, the cdc reported, but more than half of those who were had daily sessions.
The cdc also said the nation was unlikely to achieve the goal of having more than 90 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 participate in regular fitness programs for 20 minutes three times a week.
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