Thread: Is this more problems because of illegals

Today breaking news Whooping cough outbreak closes private school in El Sobrante
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, May 10, 2008


(05-09) 11:35 PDT EL SOBRANTE -- A private school in El Sobrante is closed today because of an outbreak of whooping cough that has affected at least 16 students, authorities said.

Classes were canceled at the 300-student East Bay Waldorf School at 3800 Clark Road because a number of kindergartners and their teachers have come down with the contagious lung infection, authorities said.

More than half of the infected children are in kindergarten, and all are recovering, Contra Costa County health officials said.

The school will reopen Monday, at which time students must prove that they have been administered antibiotics and are symptom-free. Those who are still sick will be barred from returning to school until May 30, when they will no longer be infectious.

County health officials were at the school Thursday and made the decision to shut the campus.

"We felt this was the best way to protect the health of the children at this school. Whooping cough is very contagious and can be especially serious for young children," county Public Health Director Wendel Brunner said in a statement.

The school has an "unusually high number of children" who have not been vaccinated against whooping cough, which is also known as pertussis, health officials said. California law allows parents not to have their children immunized against the sickness.

"If children are immunized against pertussis, most of them won't get the illness and if they do, they won't be as infectious and their symptoms won't be as severe," Brunner said. "This is why it is so important for everyone to get vaccinated against preventable diseases."

Whooping cough is characterized by severe coughing spells that end in a "whooping" sound when the person breathes in.

Health officials are working with the school to make sure that the affected students and teachers received azithromycin, an antibiotic.

More information on whooping cough symptoms, prevention and testing is available by calling the Contra Costa County Health Department's health emergency information line at (88 959-9911 or going to the Web site www.cchealth.org.

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.



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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 10JQVL.DTL

It is a goood possibility it is related. Whooping cough is more prevalent in underdeveloped countries, but is not completely eliminated in the US.

I posted this in January of 2007.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-50635-whooping.html