Whooping Cough and other horrible diseases
When I was just a little baby boomer, back in the 50's, we had ALL of the diseases that most of today's parents have never seen. My cousin, Danny, got polio; another cousin became deaf after a case of mumps. Now, immunizations have made those serious childhood diseases extremely rare. Some, like smallpox, are completely gone. Others, like polio and measles, are so rare in the U.S. that many medical providers have never seen a live case. However, they are NOT gone from this planet, and the world is becoming smaller and smaller. These diseases and others are less than a plane trip away.
Pertussis is nothing to whoop about. Pertussis, better known as whooping cough, is highly contagious bacterial disease that can kill infants and young children in a flash. In unvaccinated populations pertussis is endemic, and in undeveloped regions of the world infant and childhood mortality rates are high. Improvements in supportive treatment in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century and the subsequent development of antibiotics reduced mortality rates from pertussis; however, the incidence did not drop until the early 1950s, when the immunization of infants and children became prevalent. Before widespread immunization, the annual incidence in the United States was about 200,000 cases, compared with a recent annual incidence of about 4,000 cases. Treated early and effectively with antibiotics, infant deaths are now rare. If we stopped the pertussis vaccine today, we should expect 9,000 deaths per year.
Interestingly, pertussis is now on the rise again due primarily to an increase in the proportion of unvaccinated individuals in the very young population, but from immigration and non-compliance. A significant number of parents are withholding pertussis vaccine from their children. Do we really need another good 'ol epidemic to get the message out that immunizations SAVE LIVES?
In the early stages, pertussis looks like a common cold - runny nose, red eyes, low-grade fever, sneezing, and of course, a nighttime cough. However, it is this early stage, that pertussis is most contagious. Parents will send these kids to school and day-care. About a week or so later, the cough will worsen. It will be frequent, forceful, and may have that "whoop" that older folks remember, and young parents have never heard. Along with these frequent harsh, spasmodic, coughing attacks, will come cyanosis, sweating, exhaustion, expulsion of copious amounts of thick phlegm, and vomiting - not a pretty picture. At this stage, many will have developed pneumonia, the most serious complication.
The organism that causes pertussis can be cultured from the nose in the early stages, IF your medical provider is suspicious that this is more than "just a cold". Unfortunately, the likelihood of obtaining a positive culture starts to decrease at about the time in the course of the illness when the diagnosis of pertussis becomes obvious.
If diagnosed, antibiotic therapy can stop the progression and spread of the disease if it is given during the incubation period or the early stage. Later, antibiotics will not really affect the course of this disease, but may help prevent complications. Wouldn't it be easier just to PREVENT pertussis in the first place?
Children under 7 years of age should be immunized with pertussis vaccine. Pertussis vaccine is one of the three components in the routine DTaP shot given to infants, combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. Other than a little soreness at the injection site, serious reactions to the vaccine are extremely rare, but unfortunately do happen. Serious allergic reactions occur about 1: 1,000,000, about twice the risk of being struck by lightning. To put that in other relative risk perspectives; the risk of dying in a traffic accident is 1:800, smoking 1/2 pack per day 1:400. Need I say more?
Related Topics: Why Immunize Our Children?, Keeping Catchy Infections Contained
Pertussis is nothing to whoop about. Pertussis, better known as whooping cough, is highly contagious bacterial disease that can kill infants and young children in a flash. In unvaccinated populations pertussis is endemic, and in undeveloped regions of the world infant and childhood mortality rates are high. Improvements in supportive treatment in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century and the subsequent development of antibiotics reduced mortality rates from pertussis; however, the incidence did not drop until the early 1950s, when the immunization of infants and children became prevalent. Before widespread immunization, the annual incidence in the United States was about 200,000 cases, compared with a recent annual incidence of about 4,000 cases. Treated early and effectively with antibiotics, infant deaths are now rare. If we stopped the pertussis vaccine today, we should expect 9,000 deaths per year.
Interestingly, pertussis is now on the rise again due primarily to an increase in the proportion of unvaccinated individuals in the very young population, but from immigration and non-compliance. A significant number of parents are withholding pertussis vaccine from their children. Do we really need another good 'ol epidemic to get the message out that immunizations SAVE LIVES?
In the early stages, pertussis looks like a common cold - runny nose, red eyes, low-grade fever, sneezing, and of course, a nighttime cough. However, it is this early stage, that pertussis is most contagious. Parents will send these kids to school and day-care. About a week or so later, the cough will worsen. It will be frequent, forceful, and may have that "whoop" that older folks remember, and young parents have never heard. Along with these frequent harsh, spasmodic, coughing attacks, will come cyanosis, sweating, exhaustion, expulsion of copious amounts of thick phlegm, and vomiting - not a pretty picture. At this stage, many will have developed pneumonia, the most serious complication.
The organism that causes pertussis can be cultured from the nose in the early stages, IF your medical provider is suspicious that this is more than "just a cold". Unfortunately, the likelihood of obtaining a positive culture starts to decrease at about the time in the course of the illness when the diagnosis of pertussis becomes obvious.
If diagnosed, antibiotic therapy can stop the progression and spread of the disease if it is given during the incubation period or the early stage. Later, antibiotics will not really affect the course of this disease, but may help prevent complications. Wouldn't it be easier just to PREVENT pertussis in the first place?
Children under 7 years of age should be immunized with pertussis vaccine. Pertussis vaccine is one of the three components in the routine DTaP shot given to infants, combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. Other than a little soreness at the injection site, serious reactions to the vaccine are extremely rare, but unfortunately do happen. Serious allergic reactions occur about 1: 1,000,000, about twice the risk of being struck by lightning. To put that in other relative risk perspectives; the risk of dying in a traffic accident is 1:800, smoking 1/2 pack per day 1:400. Need I say more?
Related Topics: Why Immunize Our Children?, Keeping Catchy Infections Contained
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6 Comments:
I have been through whooping cough with my 17 yr old son; however, we were never given an accurate diagnosis. He started with a cold in November that progressed to a terrible night time cough with the "whoop" sound. I took him to his pediatrician at least 4 times before he was tested for whooping cough. By the time he was tested, he had already been on an antiboitic so the results were negative. Please know that the childhood vacine can wear off and teenagers can get this disease. Insist that your child be tested for whooping cough especially if the cough leads to vomitting. When the disease was at its worse, my son lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks.
I think that my 12 year old daughter is loosing her hearing due to whooping cough. even though she and her brother and sister were vacinated they still got it and our doctor did nothing we changed dr.s they were then given the antiboitics. We were up all night for about 9 weeks 2 childern that came to my sons birthday ended up in hospital it took 5 months for them to get any antiboitics I dont know what to do . I'm devistated .
I'm confused about the comment that the pretussus vaccine will help because my son was completly vaccinated and he contracted whooping cough two summers ago and my daughter had only one shot because of her reaction to the shot the Dr. stopped giving it to her. She also contracted the whooping cough on a trip to the hospital tovisit my mom in the same room with a girl who was misdiagnosed and she sounded just like my children. You are right about one thing it would have taken longer to diagnose except my girlfriend said that she heard about whooping cough on the tv news cast. So I researched the web and sent the info to the dr and the children were given Zithromax and so was everyone who was in contact with them in those few weeks because of the chance of being a carrier. In all about 20 people were givin the antiobiotic as a prevention BUT THE VACCINE DID NOT WARD OFF THE BUG!!! I am open to comments as to why.
i have a friend who say`s she no longer is contagious,via her dr.i have not allowed her near my children because of this.but now she says her dr told her she was no longer contagious,if this is true then,ill let my guard down but for now ill wait on the jury..
I think my 6 month old son has whooping cough. I am only 20 years old and don't really know a whole lot about it. I know it is knowns as the 100 day cough. His cough is so hard and so deep...Could this be wooping cough? I am taking him to the dr. But I am ready to know if there is a vaccine for this cough...Can someone help me?
I'm 36 and dealing with the whooping cough along with my husband right now! I started to feel sick and for awhile now, but never put two na d two together until the "cough" started. I let it go on for a week then knew in my heart something was not right. I was put on meds, but what scares me is my two boys. They have been vacinated but still makes me scared! Thye doctor told me that there is lots of people that are walking around with these kinds of sicknesses but don't get checked up on by a doctor so these things spread like wildfire! What to do?
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