Posted on 06/09/2005 12:26:04 AM PDT by ppaul
Whooping Cough Outbreak
Communities throughout the U.S. are experiencing whooping cough (pertussis) outbreaks - the worst in 40 years.
If the school nurse or the health department informs you that there is a pertussis outbreak in your school or community, you may need to call your pediatrician. The school or health department will tell you if your child was directly exposed and requires antibiotics.
Health departments across the country are acting quickly to prevent the spread of pertussis, so your cooperation in contacting your pediatrician is crucial. Please follow the instruction of the health department. The care of children in an outbreak situation is different from care in isolated cases and the health department has the most updated information on how best to prevent disease.
This illness is called pertussis because it is caused by bacteria called Bordetella pertussis, which attacks the lining of the breathing passages, producing severe inflammation and narrowing of the airways. Severe coughing is a prominent symptom. Because the child is short of breath, she inhales deeply and quickly between coughs. These breaths frequently make a “whooping” sound, which is how this illness got its common name. Older children might not have the whoop sound. The intense coughing scatters the pertussis bacteria into the air, spreading the disease to other susceptible persons.
Symptoms of Whooping Cough
Whooping cough often acts like a common cold for a week or two. Then the cough gets worse, and the child may start to have the characteristic “whoops.” During this phase (which can last two weeks or more), the child often is short of breath and can look bluish around the mouth. She also may tear, drool and vomit. Infants with pertussis become exhausted and develop complications, such as susceptibility to other infections, pneumonia and seizures. Pertussis can be fatal in infants, but the usual course is for recovery to begin after two to four more weeks. The cough may not disappear for months and may return with subsequent respiratory infections.
When to Call Your Pediatrician
Pertussis infection starts out acting like a cold. You should consider the possibility of whooping cough if the following conditions are present.
The child is a very young infant who has not been fully immunized and/or has had exposure to someone with a chronic cough or the disease.
The child’s cough becomes severe and frequent, or her lips and fingertips become dark or blue.
She becomes exhausted after coughing episodes, eats poorly, vomits after coughing and/or looks “sick.”
Treatment for Exposure
The course of treatment depends on the nature of the exposure. If there is a whooping cough case in your school but your child has not been directly exposed, your health department or pediatrician may just recommend that you watch closely for developing symptoms. If your child was directly exposed, your child may need to be treated with antibiotics even if they are not showing symptoms. Your health department and pediatrician will be able to recommend what’s best for your particular circumstances.
Treatment for Disease
Depending upon the age of the child and the severity of the illness, treatment may include the following either at home or in the hospital:
Antibiotics – may be given intravenously.
Close observation – sometimes in an intensive-care setting.
Oxygen and intravenous fluids.
If this is true, many children will die, murdered by the anti-immunization bigots.
Some of those are conservatives.
Thanks for the info.
There are legitimate reasons fo not being immunized, but these would be individual and personal. Not having your children immunized because of vague fears of risk are, in my opinion, equivalent to veganism or other weird dietary cultism. Not good for kids.
There are legitimate reasons fo not being immunized, but these would be individual and personal. Not having your children immunized because of vague fears of risk are, in my opinion, equivalent to veganism or other weird dietary cultism. Not good for kids.
I agree. I forsee more of it though of the "it's MY kid" syndrome which most of the time is a good thing by the way, just probably not in this case.
My doggie has been coughing for 3 days.....could it be?
My doggie has been coughing for 3 days.....could it be...
Close, it's the dreaded woofing cough.
My mom told me I almost died from this when a kid.
wow, ppaul, take care. We had this hit us in our home back in 1995. It was terrible. I sure hope it doesn't come to Los Angeles, but if it is a epidemic, it certainly will!!
What I'm puzzled about is how these children got into school? I know mine had to be immunized before they got in. Although one of mine didn't get the last booster shot(for reasons I can't remember), she did get all of those until then. And we did catch them up when she went into High School! They insisted on it! Though I can't understand why they didn't say anything about the last booster before she got in.
You can easily get a waiver these days for religious or medical reasons.
I came down with a respiratory infection of some kind overnight about ten days ago and it had me flat on my back for three days. I am still coughing, though not as bad. My 12 year old son has the same cough now. I was thinking it was bronchitis, but I wonder if it might possibly be a mild form of pertussis? My son and I have both been immunized against whooping cough. Maybe we have only a partial resistance.
It can be very misleading. It starts out "mild." Get to your doctor and insist on him taking a culture. If you and your boy are able to whip it early enough, you will both be spared months of debilitating coughing bouts and possible secondary infections, pneumonia, etc. Don't mess around with this. It can wipe you out. Keep us posted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.