Last Year's Whooping Cough Rate Among The Worst In Half A Century

ATLANTA — More than 21,000 people got whooping cough last year, many of them children and teens. That's the highest number since 2005 and among the worst years in more than half a century, U.S. health officials said Wednesday.

They are puzzled by the sharp rise in cases. The vaccine against whooping cough is highly effective in children, and vaccination rates for kids are good.

The disease is very contagious and in rare cases can be fatal, especially for babies too young to be vaccinated. Whooping cough starts like a cold but leads to severe coughing that can last for weeks.

California appeared to be the hardest-hit state last year, with state health officials reporting more than 8,300 cases, including the deaths of 10 babies.

Nationally, there were at least 26 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The national case count is preliminary and may wind up being higher. The numbers were reported Wednesday at a vaccine advisory committee meeting.

Health officials believe contagious adolescents are a worrisome threat to vulnerable infants. About 95 percent of children have had at least three shots against whooping cough. But because a whooping cough vaccine for adolescents and adults was not licensed until 2005, vaccination rates for those groups are much lower. One study estimated that only 6 percent of adults are fully immunized.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends the whooping cough vaccine for all adults who are around infants. On Wednesday, the committee voted to slightly alter vaccination guidance to make it clear that all nurses and other health care workers should get the whooping cough vaccine.

Comments

[dbrett480]

08:50 PM on 03/16/2011

Let's thank the anti-vaccination movement for their wonderful work in bringing back already eradicated diseases.

[Hank Williams]

05:28 PM on 03/08/2011

It is well known that in California the whooping cough outbreak that at least 2/3 of the children already had their vaccination for whooping cough. So not vaccinating against it was not the problem with the outbreak.

[lilady]

06:11 PM on 02/26/2011

Some posters on this site make reference to an article in the Journal Pediatrics...appearing six years ago for their cherry-picked arguments about efficacy of the pertussis vaccine in use today. An updated article in the Pediatrics journal dated May 26, 2009 "Parental Refusal of Pertussis Vaccine is Associated with Increased Risk of Pertussis Infection in Children", was written before the most recent outbreak of pertussis in California in 2010 that lead to the death of ten infants.

There is more awareness now of diagnosing pertussis in its early stages due to this outbreak in California and in other areas of the United States and for providing antibiotic treatment to lessen the disease impact on the patient. Antibiotics provided early on also prevent transmission of the disease to vulnerable infants. For diagnostic criteria and proper technique for testing for pertussis disease, I refer to the CDC Pink Book-Pertussis...available on the web. Other reliable web sites are the MMWR and Immunize.org for information about this bacterial illness, immunizations recommended by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatric and the epidemiological aspects of pertussis outbreaks.

I agree with other posters on this site who have stated that parental refusal to vaccinate against pertussis...and other vaccine-preventable diseases...is in a large way responsible for the decrease of herd immunity against this disease.

[bbertaud]

12:02 AM on 02/26/2011

That´s what happens when you decide not to get vaccines....nowdeal with it

[Momoftwoboyz]

03:34 AM on 02/26/2011

2 out of 3 people in California who got whooping cough were vaccinated - this is from an article from KPBS - 'Dr. Jeff Miller, a scientist involved in the study at UCLA, said the possibility that the pertussis bacterium has mutated “is an important hypothesis to test.” He added, “I wish we would have started it in 2005.”

Mooi, the scientist who has been studying the bacterial mutations, said his research has been ignored by those who influence public policy on pertussis in the U.S. and beyond, in part because they rely on vaccine makers to fund their meetings and research.

There is little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to pursue a new vaccine because it would cost billions, he said. The circulation of a more virulent strain of pertussis could mean a new vaccine should be created'. - http://bit.ly/eLXzOT and the financial incentive - http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/dec/15/whooping-cough-experts-rely-vaccine-companies-mone/ and questioning efficacy - http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/07/whooping-cough-vaccine-working/

[yetiwatcher]

06:10 AM on 02/26/2011

"possibly" mutated, how irresponsible to trot that out if he doesn't know it to be true,
here's the deal:
the vaccines are not fail safe - nothing is - by vaccinating everyone the incidence of infection and carriers in the population as a whole is kept so low that those few individuals who got vaccinated but were still unprotected (the failure rate is non-zero) simply don't encounter the infectious agent - so they don't get sick,
this is true of all types of vaccinations - not simply for whooping cough

thus, bbertaud is absolutely correct in saying this is what happens when people refuse to get vaccinated - we all run the risk of dealing with disease over the choice made by the relatively few to forgo vaccination

[alongst]

08:30 PM on 02/25/2011

Unvaccinated illegal aliens or unvaccinated children of ignorant parents?
Which is more likely ?

[Quinny]

08:53 PM on 02/25/2011

It is always a good idea to actually read the article
before you post a comment regarding the article.
Obviously, you did not....

[Quinny]

12:47 AM on 02/25/2011

So lets see..26 people have died - out of a population
of 310 million - and this articles recommendation is to
immediately vaccinate 100 million adults. Gee, I wonder
which PR firm was hired by the vaccine manufacturer's
to place this piece of "news" in the MSM? I have an idea.
Lets close the borders so that the "undocumented immigrants"
who are bringing these disease's BACK into the United States
will not be able to infect us.

Selah

[European1919]

07:45 AM on 02/25/2011

Why not just close the doors behind all the Americans leaving on a trip, too? Who knows what nasty diseases they might bring back from those awful foreign lands ...

[sabelmouse]

08:44 AM on 02/25/2011

i think quinny was being sarcastic.

[Quinny]

10:15 AM on 02/25/2011

If you do a little research - like I did - into where and how these
"outbreaks" are occurring in the US, you will know that it is NOT
happening because American tourists are bringing these diseases
back into the US from spring break.

[ChiProgressive]

04:48 PM on 02/24/2011

I saw an infant that was infected with whooping cough in the pediatric icu. He was on life support and probably didn't make it.

Thank you Jenny MacCarthy and ignorant/negligent parents.

[mossystones]

12:02 AM on 02/25/2011

Yes, a new generation needlessly gets to discover how terrible some of these childhood illnesses were, and are.

Reading the comments of anti-vaccination folks around here, I feel like I'm living among people who still insist that the world is flat.

http://thankyoujennymccathy.com

[Momoftwoboyz]

03:39 AM on 02/26/2011

Take a look at this article by PBS -http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/07/whooping-cough-vaccine-working/ There are several more on the page that link to what's going on in San Diego, with pharmaceutical companies and the change in strain.

[Happyexpat]

06:28 AM on 02/27/2011

I am surrounded by such in Italy, and most of them are young. I have been the nanny/second mother to a now six year old boy since his birth. His parents refused to vaccinate him for measles, mumps and scarlet fever because they contend vaccines are a only a plot for big pharma to fleece the public. The mother still refused when she got a call from the local health authorities. When I argued with them the father threatened to throw me out of the house. I later managed to convince the mother by threatening to leave and as she is addicted to her work she finally agreed.

BTW the husband's conspiracy theory regarding 911 is that all the planes were empty.

Flat earth indeed.

[dugmaze]

12:10 AM on 02/25/2011

"Thank you Jenny MacCarthy and ignorant/n­egligent parents. "

If your going to make these type of statements, please remove the 'progressive' from your name. Your personal opinions based on mainstream media stories are anything but progressive.

[slinkybro]

01:37 PM on 02/25/2011

Progressive, a person that believes what they want to hear, even if it is contrary to the facts.

[lilady]

01:00 AM on 02/24/2011

Pertussis is caused by a bacterium, not a virus. Vaccines manufactured against bacteria such as diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis do not confer lifelong immunity as vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, polio and hepatitis B do. That is why young adults and older adults were formerly given booster vaccine every ten years against diphtheria and tetanus. Now there is a new component to the ten year booster regimen and the CDC recommends "boosting" every ten years with the combined diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. Children, starting at age 11 as well as adults should receive this vaccine and receive booster combined vaccine every ten years, according to the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Transmission of the virus to infants by an older child or adult with waning immunity, can be devastating because the infants are too young to have received any of the 3-dose primary series or have not completed the series. There is a long prodrome (asymptomatic) period where infected children and adults can unknowingly infect a young infant. For accurate information about this vaccine see Immunize.org.

When uninformed parents believe nonsense spouted by anti-vaccination celebs and other "experts" on social web sites, outbreaks like these will proliferate.

[onionboy]

12:42 PM on 02/24/2011

Very well said.

[ljkcan]

10:00 PM on 02/24/2011

x2 very well said. Fanned and faved.

[kozmo9]

10:28 PM on 02/23/2011

This can be directly attributed to Jenny McCarthy. Seriously.

[ljkcan]

12:48 AM on 02/24/2011

I find it odd that people base getting their children not vaccinated over what an actress deems to be valid. The guy in London was bogus I just suppose when there is no where else to turn they think it must be the vaccines.

[Momoftwoboyz]

03:59 AM on 02/26/2011

I thought this was an interesting study, you might want to check it out. Here's the overview:

In the Netherlands, as in many other western countries, pertussis vaccines have
been used extensively for more than 40 years. Therefore, it is conceivable that
vaccine-induced immunity has affected the evolution of Bordetella pertussis.
Consistent with this notion, pertussis has reemerged in the Netherlands, despite
high vaccination coverage. Further, a notable change in the population structure
of B. pertussis was observed in the Netherlands subsequent to the introduction
of vaccination in the 1950s. Finally, we observed antigenic divergence between
clinical isolates and vaccine strains, in particular with respect to the surface associated
proteins pertactin and pertussis toxin. Adaptation may have allowed
B. pertussis to remain endemic despite widespread vaccination and may have
contributed to the reemergence of pertussis in the Netherlands.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631860/pdf/11485646.pdf

[momstudent]

10:17 PM on 02/23/2011

What is really scary Doctors do not recognize Whopping Cough. How many patients have had it this year and their doctors do not know? Far more than people realize, because Doctors have not been trained and or told.."this is whopping cough"...

[onionboy]

12:46 PM on 02/24/2011

You're right. Doctor's recognize what is most likely. That's part of the training. I'd guess that now there's going to have to be some education to start IDing whooping cough.

I often wonder how far small pox would get through a local population before it's actually identified as small pox. How many physicians have actually seen it after all this time?

[momstudent]

06:07 PM on 02/24/2011

The severity of whopping cough in people vaccinated is not as extreme, however, probably many doctors disregard due to the patient being vaccinated.

[bluto22]

04:47 PM on 02/23/2011

Thank you anti-vacinators (pro-diseasers?) for allowing whooping cough to regain a foothold in our communities. You must be proud of the rise in infant deaths.

Seriously, let's hope/pray that this disease does not adapt into more virulent strains

[EvolveorPerish]

07:37 PM on 02/23/2011

It's not that simple (anti vaccinators), the strain is mutating and the original vaccine is not effective, nor does it give you permanent immunity.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/07/whooping-cough-vaccine-working/

[ljkcan]

10:47 PM on 02/23/2011

It is those mutating strains that are worrisome to those of us who were vaccinated a half century ago.

[ljkcan]

10:45 PM on 02/23/2011

It is interesting because in Canada if your child is not vacinated against pertussis along with all the others they usually get in the first months and years. They are not admitted back in school until they have them. It works check out the infant mortality rate.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/vpd-mev/pertussis-eng.php

[AJW1976]

11:22 PM on 02/23/2011

How dare you bring facts into this discussion.

Important decisions--especially concerning one's health--should be based upon what you feel and believe to be true and not on ephemeral things like "studies" and "evidence" which are the hallmarks of arrogant science.

[Peridolius]

04:27 PM on 02/23/2011

What website am I on? Kudos for a science based article on vaccination.

[onionboy]

04:38 PM on 02/23/2011

Seriously. And it has actual information. I had no idea that vaccination among adults was so low...6%.

[kozmo9]

10:30 PM on 02/23/2011

A counter-post advocating homeopathic vaccines... wait for it...

[eLucida]

10:57 PM on 02/23/2011

Word.

[onionboy]

12:48 PM on 02/24/2011

I also support the use of water to fight illness.

[WoollyMittens]

04:05 PM on 02/23/2011

This is what we have to look forward to if the anti-vac hysteria keeps getting air time.

[onionboy]

04:36 PM on 02/23/2011

Hey! Why with the "anti-" rhetoric? Give it a positive spin..."pro-disease".

[ljkcan]

10:49 PM on 02/23/2011

And for some of us it means "early death".

[Happyexpat]

06:49 AM on 02/27/2011

http://www.lastcombat.com/videos.php?page=1&one=Whooping%20Cough&two=Bronchitis&f=Bronchitis_vs_Whooping_Cough&video=3akJVesMdvs