[ppaul]

This is very serious. All my children and I have come down with it. Just about every child at a nearby school has it. Many children in our church have it. Lots of adults too - it seems to be spreading like the plague. Even at the store grocery shopping, I heard a lot of adults with the dry, hacking cough. This is probably a bigger epidemic than is being reported, just from what I have observed. In fact, I have yet to see any major news stories. For newborns and infants, it can be fatal. What are you all experiencing in your area?

[Brad’s Gramma]

Praying for your return to health, ppaul!!!!

[janetgreen]

In the past all school children were immunized against whooping cough (DPT injection which was for diptheria, pertussis and tetanus). Is this no longer the law?

Illegal aliens are bringing in diseases that had been almost eradicated in America long ago. Is our government not paying attention? Is illegal immigration more important than the health of American children? Apparently so.

[ppaul]

More helpful information here:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/whooping_cough.html

[mhx]

Just out of curiosity what general area are you in?

[My Favorite Headache]

Thanks President Bush! Thanks to your Open Borders Amnesty policy,we can count on more great diseases like this to make a comeback in the USA again!

You made this possible! Thank You! and Thank You Vincente! For sending us your poor,sick,hungry,and criminal.

How lucky are we,huh? Excellent! Bring back POLIO PLEASE? More TB! More Hep-A-B-C please!

[oceanperch]

It hit our County (rural) last winter and the local hosp. closed the Maternity ward to all visitors.

Over the Coast range in the next County the hospital that we all travel to for specialist medical care also closed it's maternity ward to all visitors.

Seemed like it hit over there first if IRC.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The best to your family.

Thank you for posting the information.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

http://news10now.com/content/all_news/romemohawk_valley/?ArID=43570&SecID=87

[New York] In Oneida County health officials are investigating eight reported cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough.

Officials say the reports of the contagious disease have come over the last two weeks.

Of the eight cases, four involve students in the Whitesboro School District. The other four cases involve adults, two of which work for the New Hartford School District.

Health officials say these recent cases top the total number of cases in the county for all of last year. "I wouldn't call it a large outbreak but it's certainly something that we're going to keep an eye on and again we've notified area physicians so that they in turn are alerted to the pertussis situation and they would report cases as they seem them," explained Ken Fanelli of the Oneida County Health Department.

Whitesboro school officials say parents in the district have been notified.

A new vaccine to fight the disease could be approved in the U-S later this month.


______________________________________________________


http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=42281

[Arizona] ..................Adolescents who were immunized as children become susceptible to whooping cough because the vaccine’s effectiveness begins to wane after several years, said Doug Campos-Outcalt, the county’s interim health officer.

Because the condition seems like nothing more than a persistent cough, many children and adults get whooping cough but are never diagnosed, he said.

Either they don’t go to the doctor, or their physician does not test for pertussis.

As a result, the number of pertussis cases in Arizona is vastly under-reported, Engelthaler said. "We know we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved the use of a pertussis booster in adolescents, which will be available to health care providers this month. The state health department, which has ordered the vaccine and will make it available to county health departments, recommends that doctors vaccinate adolescents who have contact with infants inside the home, and who have not had a tetanus shot in the last five years. The new pertussis booster is given with vaccines for diphtheria and tetanus.

Dr. Mary Rimsza, a pediatrician practicing in Phoenix, said she plans to begin vaccinating adolescents for pertussis once the vaccine is available.

"It will help them, prevent them from getting (pertussis), but the most critical benefit is if we immunize this population, they’re not going to spread it to infants," she said.

Babies cough so hard from pertussis they can die from ruptured blood vessels in the brain, suffocation from mucus they can’t cough up or pneumonia, Auxier said.

"They cough their brain out, literally," he said. "It’s a horrible death."

Ray said she wishes her son had been vaccinated from pertussis, but she’s glad she knew the signs of whooping cough.

"If these babies are dying from it, I think children should be vaccinated," she said. .....................


________________________________________________________

http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200506/1383849.htm?northwestwa


[Australia] Health authorities are warning Western Australians to get vaccinated against the highly infectious disease whooping cough, with last year the most severe on record.

More than 2,000 cases of whooping cough were reported across the state last year.

The outbreak began in the Great Southern, with hundreds of cases also reported in other regions.

The health department's Tony Watson says despite this year expected to be far less severe, parents are still being advised to be prepared.

"The primary focus at the moment will be to get the high school kids who weren't vaccinated last year to have a booster, but we're also paying very close attention to the vaccination of parents with newborn children," he said.

[bd476]

Thanks for posting this, PPaul. I also thought that if you've had the immunization, you won't get it.

Haven't heard of any whooping cough outbreaks in my area, but there is a persistent cold/flu with a bad cough going around.

Prayers for you and your family's quick healing.

[montag813]

Where are you (what state, city?) Thanks, worried for my kids and wondering where this is prevalent.

[Rebelbase]

Per our conversatation last night: Third problem with with an insecure border.

[OXENinFLA]

And you're WHERE?

City,County,State????

[Cagey]

JERRY: (Disgusted) What is with that?!

KRAMER: Well, it's coughing, Jerry. It expells the diseased germs out of the body, into the air. (Makes a guesture of germs being in the air)

[BuckeyeOhio]

I had whooping cough about 40 years ago - gave it to my mother and father also. My uncle did the grocery shopping for us because he had it years ago and we weren't allowed out of the house (his sister died from it)

I was never so sick in my life - thought I would die when coughing because of not being able to get my breath.

My doctor said that the vaccine isn't lifetime protection and everyone should be re-vaccinated every 10-15 years for this.

Hope you and your family get better fast - I had it for about 8 weeks. I still get a whoopy type cough whenever I get a chest cold.

[TomB]

anti-vaccination stupidity ping

[show me state]

Whooping-cough booster shots urged in Salt Lake County
Salt Lake City Deseret News, UT - 5 hours ago
Pertussis cases — whooping cough — have tripled in Utah this year over years past. The Salt Lake Valley Health Department recently ...

Whooping cough cases reported again; older children now can ...
Herald & Review, IL - 6 hours ago
DECATUR - Eleven more people have been confirmed to have pertussis, or whooping cough, totaling 21 in Macon County this year, according to the Macon County ...

[PilloryHillary]

A family member works for a health department in SC, and they have been fighting an outbreak of Whooping Cough for months. They say it's one of the worst outbreaks in a very long time. Here in Michigan, it's going around....my youngest son was in preschool and there were many kids with it. My son had it (twice) this past winter and my neighbor's kids came down with it as well...and it's not a fun thing to go through. Prayers for you and the family's quick recovery. As our pediatrician says "LOTS OF HANDWASHING!"...

[foolscap]

I have not seem much here but my friends in CO say there is a lot where they live. My girlfriend who is in her early 50's came down with it. It was very, very bad. That was months ago and she is not really healthy yet. I hope your return to health is easier than hers has been.

[tomkat]

Have just seen this thread, so maybe this is answered further along:

Is there a particular area of the country this 'outbreak' is being seen ?

[StarCMC]

I haven't heard about it around here at all, but my kids are homeschooled so I don't always know what's happening in the schools. Where do you live? (Generally)

When my oldes was about 2 she experienced vomiting after coughing episodes and we had to have her tested for whooping cough. ARGH! That was about the worst thing I have ever had to have done to a kid! ICK!

Prayers for your quick recovery, PPaul!