Whooping cough more common



According to a USA Today article:

A study in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal in March found that 91 babies under age 1 died of whooping cough from 1999 to 2004. More than half were under 2 months old, the age at which infants get their first in a series of whooping cough shots.

One out of 20 kids who don’t get the vaccine have been found to contract the illness, versus one out of 500 who are vaccinated.

Categories: Health and safety
Jennifer Gish

6 Responses

  1. Jen S says:

    These numbers are scary. We hear so much from the autism community on why not to vaccinate kids. What we don’t hear enough of is our parents and grandparents telling us the horror stories of what these diseases were actually like. Today’s baby bearing generation has no idea what these diseases were like. Therefore we have no reason to fear them. Studies showing the increasing incidence of these diseases needs to be more widely distibuted. If not, I fear it’ll take a serious epidemic to re-turn the tide back to vaccinations.

    Austin wasn’t able to get one (of 3) of his pertussis vaccines because it’s contra-indicated for his form of seizures. Can you imagine how scared I was knowing he could carry it home to my infant twins?

  2. Beth says:

    Jen – I can only imagine how terrified you must have been! And the fact that some kids like Austin CAN’T have certain vaccines is all the more reason for kids who CAN get them to get them. I know that some people will blast me for this opinion, but I think that it is absolutely wrong and totally selfish for parents to not vaccinate when they can. It is not just about the individual child like so many parents seem to think; it is a public health issue. People who choose not to vaccinate put everyone at risk, especially those who can’t vaccinate for various medical reasons.
    I, myself, had two whooping cough scares when I was teaching a few years ago and a wave of the illness went through our school district. Twice I was called by the health dept informing me that I had been in close contact with a student who had pertussis. Both times I was put on a round of antibiotics, which ended up having repurcussions on my health in other ways. The second time the doctor did a blood test to see if I had been exposed and if I had any immunities from my vaccinations as a child. Turns out that I was exposed, but, luckily, the immunities from my vacs were still in place. I was saved from a big medical ordeal because my parents would never have dreamed of not vaccinating me as a child.
    If this trend of not vaccinating continues, I truly fear for the future. And Jen is right, this generation of parents has no idea of the horrors of these diseases. If they did, they would not be making such foolish, selfish choices.

  3. Eugene says:

    If only whooping-cough vaccine could (even in theory) induce herd immunity… Whooping-cough vaccine couldn’t and doesn’t prevent the infection with bordetella pertussis. If the vaccination is successful, it provides immunity against toxin, not the bacteria itself.

  4. SPICY!! says:

    I know your kids are very young still, but here is something that could help down the road. I had the whooping cough vaccine when I was very young, like most kids do, but contracted whooping cough during my sophomore year at college and was very ill. Apparently the vaccine wears off in some people much more quickly and the same people are increasingly suceptible to the virus. Just something to keep an out for your kids in the future.

  5. Kim says:

    It is much more prevalent. Multiple times in the past 5 years we’ve gotten letters home from school that a child has tested positive for whooping cough. My husband also contracted it about 5 years ago and it took about 6 months to clear up completely and he had been vaccinated many years earlier. With more people not choosing vaccines, illnesses that we thought we were done with are creeping back into society.

  6. hera says:

    Actually the vaccine for whooping cough only lasts for five to ten years: and apparently only 2 % of adults are re vaccinated; also in adults and older children, whooping cough often resembles a mild cold that lasts for several weeks.
    Take home message; perhpas all the adults who are writing here, if they are in good health with no immune problems, should check with their doctor and if necessary get vaccinated themselves; and if you don’t do this,( and I am assuming if you feel strongly about vaccinating babies, then you will) then at least, if you have a cold, stay away from babies.

    By the way, a study in Japan showed that the younger the baby who received the DTP vaccine( whooping cough and diptheria tetanus vaccine), the more likely the baby was to develop life long asthma.( Asthma of course, in some cases has killed).

    Life is often not completely black and white.