Thread: Whooping cough could reach highest levels since 1959

Whooping cough could reach highest levels since 1959

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY Updated 1h 26m ago

Health officials said Thursday that the number of cases of whooping cough could reach the highest level in more than 50 years.

Public health officials are concerned the uptick might be due in part to a switch from one vaccine type to another 15 years ago. The change was based in part on now-discredited concerns about the dangers of the older vaccine.

"We may need to go back to 1959 to find as many cases reported" halfway through the year, said Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

Whooping cough, called pertussis by doctors, is a highly contagious bacterial disease and very dangerous to infants and young children. Half of babies who get it are hospitalized, Schuchat said.

The disease leads to severe coughing that causes children to make a distinctive whooping sound as they gasp for breath. In rare cases, it can be fatal. Nine children have died this year.

Though 95% of toddlers are vaccinated against the disease, only 8.2% of adults are, and they are the ones most likely to infect babies, Schuchat said.

Scheduling a vaccination
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends this schedule for the tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine.

- Two months

- Four months

- Six months

- Between 15-18 months

- Between 4-6 years

- Between 11-12 years

- Adults: Booster every ten years, before pregnancy or if there is a pregnant woman in the household.
The highest rates of infection are in babies less than 12 months, and half of the cases are in those under 3 months. Babies are too young to be protected by the first vaccination, typically given at 2 months, so vaccinating their mothers and the people around them is key to protecting them.

Children get vaccinated in five doses, with the final shot given at 4 to 6 years. A booster shot is recommended around age 11. The vaccine's protection wanes, and health officials have debated moving up the booster shot.

Health officials don't know why pertussis, which tends to occur in waves every three to five years, is rising. They're investigating whether one reason might be a switch made in the type of vaccine given in the early 1990s.

Unproved and unscientific claims that there was a connection between the pertussis vaccine and brain injury pushed manufacturers to switch to another safer version, acellular pertussis vaccine. It has been used in the USA since 1997.

Health officials see some evidence that its effectiveness may wane more quickly than the previous form, contributing to a rise in whooping cough cases among children ages 10 to 14.

The uptick in infections in that age group is "different than what we've seen in previous waves," Schuchat said. "That's why we're recommending a booster at 11 or 12."

The vaccine is not 100% effective, but unvaccinated children are eight times more likely to be infected, Schuchat said.

"Without the vaccine, we know that we would have hundreds of thousands of pertussis cases each year," she said, adding that even if vaccinated children do get whooping cough, they don't get as sick and they're less infectious to others.

Public health officials push hard for pregnant women and all adults to get the pertussis booster vaccine, which is called Tdap and also protects against tetanus and diphtheria.

Washington state is in the midst of a major whooping cough outbreak.

"As of the end of last week, we've had more than 3,000 cases," said Mary Selecky, secretary of the state Department of Health. "My biggest concern is for the babies."

She said there have been no child deaths this year. Last year, two children died from the disease.

Chelsey Charles' daughter, Kaliah Jeffery, was one of them.

Charles of Lake Stevens, Wash., got whooping cough while she was pregnant. When Kaliah was 2 weeks old, "she started sneezing" and was hospitalized.

After six days, she was put on a ventilator and began having seizures. When Kaliah was 27 days old, Charles said, doctors said, "We're going to have to let her go."

On Aug. 15, 2011, Charles and Kaliah's father, Tanner Jeffrey, held her as she died. "They took her off life support, and she tried to take one breath and she couldn't," Charles said.

Since her daughter's death, Charles has worked to educate pregnant moms about the risks of the disease.

"A lot of people didn't even know about it before," she said. "I tell people, 'Would you rather have a baby die because they're not vaccinated?' "

Whooping cough could reach highest levels since 1959

Vaccination first step in protecting children from whooping cough; adults need booster shot

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, July 20, 5:24 PMAP

ATLANTA — Whooping cough was once a terrible menace to U.S. children, with hundreds of thousands of cases reported annually. Then a vaccine drove cases down, and the illness became thought of as rare and even antiquated.

But it never totally disappeared, and now there’s been a spike in cases.




With nearly 18,000 cases so far this year, health officials say this is shaping up to be the worst national epidemic in more than 50 years for the highly contagious disease.
Worrisome numbers have been reported in more than a dozen states.
What’s a parent to do?

Some advice:
FIRST STEP: Make sure your child is up-to-date on vaccination against whooping cough, or pertussis. There are five doses, with the first shot at age 2 months and the last between 4 and 6 years. A booster shot is recommended around 11 or 12. It’s part of routine childhood shots that also protect against diphtheria and tetanus.

PROTECT YOURSELF: Adults who are around kids should get a whooping cough booster shot so that they don’t spread it to young children, who are the most vulnerable to whooping cough. Nine young children have died so far this year. The booster for teens and adults, approved in 2005, was combined with the tetanus booster that adults are supposed to get every 10 years or so.

VACCINE NOT PERFECT: No vaccine is 100 percent effective, and its ability to fend off infections wanes as years pass. But even diminished vaccine protection is better than nothing, and usually people who are vaccinated have milder cases. In this current epidemic, experts are investigating whether the childhood shots and the booster offer less lasting protection than previously thought.

WATCH FOR SYMPTOMS: The illness typically starts with cold-like symptoms that can include a runny nose, congestion, low-grade fever and a mild cough. Infants may have a pause in breathing, called apnea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises parents to see a doctor if they or their children develop prolonged or severe coughing fits, vomiting and exhaustion.

The name comes from the sound children make as they gasp for breath. Here’s what it sounds like: http://tinyurl.com/btskus

The disease is spread through coughing or sneezing. Whooping cough is treated with antibiotics, the earlier the better.
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Online:
CDC on whooping cough: CDC - Pertussis: About Pertussis

Vaccination first step in protecting children from whooping cough; adults need booster shot - The Washington Post