Posted on 12/04/2007 2:12:54 PM PST by Esther Ruth
Whooping cough makes comeback
Pertussis kills 1, strikes 8,000 in all 50 states, closes schools, colleges
Posted: December 4, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – Cover your mouth when you cough.
Wash your hands frequently.
And don't knowingly expose yourself to those infected with an illness you may have thought was a thing of the past.
That's the advice from public health officials who report small outbreaks of whooping cough, or pertussis, in all 50 states – with some pockets resulting in school closings and even one infant death.
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reports some 8,000 cases in the U.S. this season.
At Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., the campus has been shut down for an early Christmas break as a result of a major outbreak among students and staff. Some of the 30 infected with the bacterial disease at Bob Jones reportedly had been vaccinated against the illness as infants, suggesting those inoculations are not holding up after 20 years.
The fall semester officially ended prematurely – a full week before the scheduled date.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control said that it is working with the school to make sure all necessary precautions are being taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
How about if you actually had WC as an infant?? Does the immunity last longer??
His next teacher sent him to the nurse too. She finally sent the poor kid home.
I would not be surprised to find he has whooping cough.
How about if you actually had WC as an infant?? Does the immunity last longer??
***I had Whooping Cough when I was a kid. It was pretty scary. The immunity lasts a long time once you survive the disease. But I detect that your question is about getting the innoculation and how long it lasts, which is probably about 20 years, according to this article.
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Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
Actually this youngster is as legal as you and I, but I get what you mean.
Ah, diseaase nostalgia. I long for the days of the "sweating sickness" epidemic of Henry VIII's time.
Is hardest on babies so must be especially careful in church nurseries with the all the babies, keeping everything very cleaning.
This article from 05 with general information
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/305_cough.html
Controlling Whooping Cough Outbreaks
By Carol Rados
What Is Pertussis?
Prevention Is Key
With the number of reported outbreaks of whooping cough (pertussis) on the rise in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is a need to protect adolescents and adults, as well as children, against this highly contagious respiratory infection.
Commonly thought of as a childhood illness, pertussis actually affects people of all ages. According to the CDC, 5,000 to 7,000 cases are reported in the United States each year. Moreover, pertussis has been increasingly reported among adolescents and adults in the last several years. This is important because those who have a cough may not realize that they have pertussis and may be the primary source of infection for infants, who have the greatest risk of dying from the disease.
While there is no lifelong protection against pertussis, immunization by vaccine is the best preventive measure available. Vaccines currently licensed by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent the disease and reduce related illness and death are available for children up to age 7, and for adolescents between 10 and 18. The children’s vaccine is part of a routine series of childhood immunizations called diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) that is strongly recommended by the National Immunization Program at the CDC. It is administered in five doses, given at 2, 4, 6, and 15 to 18 months of age, and between 4 and 6 years. All five doses are recommended for maximum protection.
The adolescent vaccine, approved in May 2005, has the same components as the DTaP vaccine for infants and young children, but in reduced quantities.
Although most infants in the United States are immunized against pertussis, this immunity usually fades as a person enters adolescence or early adulthood. Health officials at the CDC say that preventing transmission of the disease to very young infants is critical because they are not old enough to be fully immunized. The CDC says that between 1996 and 2004 the majority of pertussis patients were either too young to have the required vaccine series or too old to have been immunized.
Researchers hope to change that. New vaccines, particularly one for adults, could help to reduce the incidence of pertussis in young infants as well by decreasing their exposure to the bacteria.
What Is Pertussis?
Pertussis is a respiratory system infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It is characterized by severe coughing spells that may end in a “whooping” sound when the infected person inhales. The first symptoms are like a cold-sneezing, runny nose, nasal congestion, slight fever, and a dry cough that may get worse at night. But unlike a cold, whooping cough sticks around, and within two weeks the symptoms get worse. A person can have fits of coughing that seem to go on and on. Severe coughing can lead to vomiting and may make it hard for a person to eat or drink. Because adults and adolescents with pertussis may have milder symptoms, they usually don’t know they have the disease.
People get pertussis by breathing in tiny droplets released into the air by an infected person’s cough or sneeze. Once inside the airways, pertussis bacteria produce toxins that interfere with the respiratory tract’s normal ability to eliminate germs. The bacteria also produce chemicals that cause inflammation, damaging the lining of the breathing passages.
Pertussis can last for several weeks or longer. It is typically treated with antibiotics; however, unless started early in the course of the illness, antibiotics do little to help the coughing illness. Patients with this disease are advised to avoid contact with anyone, particularly infants and children.
Prevention Is Key
Without vaccine protection, people can easily contract and transmit this infectious disease. Routine immunization with pertussis vaccines has greatly reduced illness and deaths associated with the disease.
Most vaccines contain a weakened (attenuated) or killed (inactivated) form of disease-causing bacteria or viruses, or components of these microorganisms, that triggers a response by the body’s immune system. They stimulate the body to make antibodies-proteins that specifically recognize and target the bacteria and viruses and help eliminate them from the body.
The search for a vaccine to prevent pertussis began in 1906, when two French bacteriologists isolated the bacterium responsible for infection. In the 1940s, experimental vaccines were successful in producing a protective immune response in humans. The first pertussis vaccine was licensed for use in the United States in 1948. These early pertussis vaccines were made from killed whole bacteria. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC, subsequent widespread use of the vaccine contributed to a dramatic decline in the U.S. incidence of the disease, which reached an all-time low of just over 1,000 cases in 1976.
Although the vaccine was extremely effective in controlling pertussis, it was associated with some serious side effects, such as fever and rare seizures that eventually discouraged some parents from having their children immunized. In addition, the number of pertussis cases was increasing in the United States by the early 1980s. In response to these concerns, the public health community set out to develop an improved vaccine that would be equally effective, but associated with fewer side effects.
Encouraging findings in the late 1980s and early 1990s eventually led to the 1996 licensing of the DTaP vaccine series. The acellular pertussis vaccine uses a form of the bacterium without its cell wall that doesn’t cause the adverse that the whole-cell predecessor did. According to the CDC, DTaP is a safer version of the older vaccine DTP, which is no longer used in the United States.
The collaboration of the FDA, the NIH, the CDC, and the pharmaceutical industry helped expedite approval of the children’s DTaP vaccine series. The public health community is looking to further improve pertussis vaccines by finding ways to reduce the number of doses required in childhood and to lengthen the period of immunity produced by the vaccines.
It is important to understand the burden of pertussis disease in various age groups. Protecting infants from its severe form and diagnosing the disease in a timely, accurate manner are important factors in controlling future outbreaks.
Actually the reverse. I had it as an infant, too, and you're right--it "is" scary. One of the very vivid memories of that stage of life that I can still recall with ease. But I've read that of late there is an increase among adults, and I've had a "nagging cough" lately and wondered if it was possible to have lost the immunity gained from actually having it lo all those many years ago (50+ in my case).
Another unwelcome gift from your ILLEGAL friends in the third world!
I know that the last time smallpox vaccine was given was in the early 70's (1971) and has an immunity for a decade.
http://www.charlotte.com/205/story/390053.html
Posted on Tue, Dec. 04,
Whooping cough spreads at Bob Jones University
The Associated Press
Related Content
http://www.greenvillenews.com
GREENVILLE, S.C. —An outbreak of whooping cough has forced Bob Jones University officials to end the fall semester early and cancel most public events for the rest of the year.
Anywhere from 30 to 40 people on campus have confirmed or highly suspected cases of the contagious disease, school spokesman Jonathan Pait said.
An additional 50 people show possible symptoms of whooping cough, Pait said.
The fundamentalist Christian school, which has 5,000 students, has decided to end the fall semester Friday - nearly a week earlier than scheduled - and has canceled its popular Christmas Vespers program scheduled for this weekend, Pait said.
It has been a challenge to find enough places to isolate the sick students and get the vaccines and antibiotics needed, Pait said.
excerpt
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/whooping_cough.html
Whooping cough - or pertussis - is an infection of the respiratory system caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis (or B. pertussis). It’s characterized by severe coughing spells that end in a “whooping” sound when the person breathes in. Before a vaccine was available, pertussis killed 5,000 to 10,000 people in the United States each year. Now, the pertussis vaccine has reduced the annual number of deaths to less than 30.
But in recent years, the number of cases has started to rise. By 2004, the number of whooping cough cases spiked past 25,000, the highest level it’s been since the 1950s. It’s mainly affected infants who are younger than 6 months old before they are adequately protected by their immunizations, and kids who are 11 to 18 years old whose immunity has faded.
Although whooping cough can occur at any age, it’s most severe in unimmunized children and in infants under 1 year of age (early immunization can usually prevent this serious disease in babies). But more cases have been reported in teens and adults, because their immunity has faded since their original vaccination. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently recommended that kids who are 11-18 years old get a booster shot that includes a pertussis vaccine, preferably when they are 11 to 12 years old.
Signs and Symptoms
The first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to those of a common cold:
runny nose
sneezing
mild cough
low-grade fever
After about 1 to 2 weeks, the dry, irritating cough evolves into coughing spells. During a coughing spell, which can last for more than a minute, the child may turn red or purple. At the end of a spell, the child may make a characteristic whooping sound when breathing in or may vomit. Between spells, the child usually feels well.
Although it’s likely that infants and younger children who become infected with B. pertussis will develop the characteristic coughing episodes with their accompanying whoop, not everyone will. However, sometimes infants don’t cough or whoop as older children do. They may look as if they’re gasping for air with a reddened face and may actually stop breathing for a few seconds during particularly bad spells.
Adults and adolescents with whooping cough may have milder or atypical symptoms, such as a prolonged cough without the coughing spells or the whoop.
Contagiousness
Pertussis is highly contagious. The bacteria spread from person to person through tiny drops of fluid from an infected person’s nose or mouth. These may become airborne when the person sneezes, coughs, or laughs. Other people then can become infected by inhaling the drops or getting the drops on their hands and then touching their mouths or noses. Infected people are most contagious during the earliest stages of the illness up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics shorten the period of contagiousness to 5 days following the start of antibiotic treatment.
Prevention
Whooping cough can be prevented with the pertussis vaccine, which is part of the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis) immunization. DTaP immunizations are routinely given in five doses before a child’s sixth birthday. To give additional protection in case immunity fades, the AAP now recommends that kids ages 11-18 get a booster shot of the new combination vaccine (called Tdap), ideally when they’re 11 or 12 years old, instead of the Td booster routinely given at this age. As is the case with all immunization schedules, there are important exceptions and special circumstances. Your child’s doctor will have the most current information.
Experts believe that up to 80% of nonimmunized family members will develop whooping cough if they live in the same house as someone who has the infection. For this reason, anyone who comes into close contact with a person who has pertussis should receive antibiotics to prevent spread of the disease. Young children who have not received all five doses of the vaccine may require a booster dose if exposed to an infected family member.
Incubation
The incubation period (the time between infection and the onset of symptoms) for whooping cough is usually 7 to 10 days, but can be as long as 21 days.
Duration
Pertussis can cause prolonged symptoms. The child usually has 1 to 2 weeks of common cold symptoms first. This is followed by approximately 2 to 4 weeks of severe coughing, though the coughing spells can sometimes last even longer. The last stage consists of another several weeks of recovery with gradual resolution of symptoms. In some children, the recovery period may last for months.
Professional Treatment
Call the doctor if you suspect that your child has whooping cough. To make a diagnosis, the doctor will take a medical history, do a thorough physical exam, and take nose and throat mucus samples that will be sent to a laboratory and examined and cultured for B. pertussis bacteria. Blood tests and a chest X-ray may also be done.
If your child has whooping cough, it will be treated with antibiotics, usually for 2 weeks. Many experts believe that the medication is most effective in shortening the infection when it’s given in the first stage of the illness, before coughing spells begin. But even if antibiotics are started later, they’re still important because they can stop the spread of the pertussis infection to others. Ask your child’s doctor whether preventive antibiotics or vaccine boosters for other family members are needed.
Some children with whooping cough need to be treated in a hospital. Infants and younger children are more likely to be hospitalized because they’re at greater risk for complications such as pneumonia, which occurs in about one in five children under the age of 1 year who have pertussis. Up to 75% of infants younger than 6 months old with whooping cough will receive hospital treatment. Infants and younger children are more likely to require hospitalization because they’re at greater risk for complications such as pneumonia, ear infection, dehydration, and seizures. In infants younger than 6 months of age, whooping cough can even be life-threatening.
While in the hospital, a child may need suctioning of thick respiratory secretions. The child’s breathing will be monitored, and oxygen may be needed. Intravenous (IV) fluids might be required if the child shows signs of dehydration or has difficulty eating. The child also will be isolated from other patients, with special precautions taken to prevent the infection from spreading to other patients, hospital staff, and visitors.
Home Treatment
If your child is being treated for pertussis at home, follow the schedule for giving antibiotics exactly as your child’s doctor prescribed. Giving your child cough medicine probably will not help, as even strong cough medicines usually can’t relieve the coughing spells of whooping cough.
During recovery, let your child rest in bed and use a cool-mist vaporizer. This will help loosen respiratory secretions and soothe irritated lungs and breathing passages. (If you use a vaporizer, be sure to follow directions for keeping it clean and mold-free, usually with small amounts of bleach.) In addition, try to keep your home free of irritants that can trigger coughing spells, such as aerosol sprays, tobacco smoke, and smoke from cooking, fireplaces, and wood-burning stoves.
Children with whooping cough may vomit or not eat or drink as much because of frequent coughing. So offer smaller, more frequent meals and encourage your child to drink lots of fluids. Watch for signs of dehydration too, including: thirst, irritability, restlessness, lethargy, sunken eyes, a dry mouth and tongue, dry skin, crying without tears, and fewer trips to the bathroom to urinate (or in infants, fewer wet diapers).
When to Call Your Child’s Doctor
Call the doctor if you suspect that your child has whooping cough or has been exposed to someone with whooping cough, even if your child has already received all scheduled pertussis immunizations.
Your child should be examined by a doctor if he or she has prolonged coughing spells, especially if these spells:
make your child turn red or purple
are followed by vomiting
are accompanied by a whooping sound when your child breathes in after coughing
If your child has been diagnosed with whooping cough and is being treated at home, seek immediate medical care if he or she has difficulty breathing or shows signs of dehydration.
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: December 2005
My GP recommended a new vaccine for adults called TDPA...tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis for adults. Here’s some interesting reading about pertusis in adults. My GP said it can leave you with a chronic cough.
http://www.metrokc.gov/health/providers/epidemiology/health-alert-060501.htm
I had it as an infant, too, and you’re right—it “is” scary. One of the very vivid memories of that stage of life that I can still recall with ease. But I’ve read that of late there is an increase among adults, and I’ve had a “nagging cough” lately and wondered if it was possible to have lost the immunity gained from actually having it lo all those many years ago (50+ in my case).
***One thing I noticed was that after having WC as a child, I didn’t catch many other colds and when I did catch them, they were very mild. Other people would complain about having a cold and all I experienced was some sniffles — what’s the big deal? But as I got older, my immunity wore off and I started catching real colds like what others were getting and I realized what they had been going through. I was hoping for a resurgence in the immunities I had built up as a child, so I asked my doctor for a booster shot of Pertussin and, since that time I’ve only had 2 very minor colds.
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Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
I had WC as a teenager. Awful, awful illness. It was misdiagnosed for at least 6 months. There were times I truly believed I was going to die from lack of oxygen I was coughing so hard.
She also had inoculations but only after we had her immune system strong and her weight heavy enough for this whooping cough and several other vaccines.
She has never had more than a head could so far and turned 12 last July.
There was a major outbreak of whooping cough last year as well.
You can’t say that. stating the obvious; stating the truth, borders on hate speech in this country.
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