(HealthDayNews) -- If you're wondering which diseases you should be immunized against, the University of Southern California offers these recommendations:
- Tetanus: Everyone should get a booster shot every 10 years.
- Rubella (German Measles): For health care workers and women of childbearing age.
- Hepatitis A: For people at high risk, including intravenous drug users, homosexuals, institutionalized people and people traveling to or living in areas where it is endemic.
- Hepatitis B and C: High-risk adults such as dialysis patients and health care workers should get the hepatitis B vaccination and should get tested for hepatitis C, because symptoms often don't show up for years. There isn't a vaccination for hepatitis C.
- Pneumonia: For people over 65, plus diabetics and people who have had their spleens removed or suffer chronic heart, lung or liver disease.
- Influenza: Annual flu shots are recommended for the same group of people who should get pneumonia shots.
- Travelers: If you're planning to visit another country, you should contact its nearest consulate to ask whether specific vaccinations are recommended or required.
