Whooping cough: outbreak in Montana
Add another state in the northwest US, Montana, that is experiencing an outbreak of whooping cough (Bordetella pertussis). Washington and Idaho (where a child has already died), along with nearby British Columbia, have also experienced sizable outbreaks.
Health officials in Flathead County, Montana, which borders British Columbia, have announced five additional cases of the disease. Some school events were cancelled or postponed since officials were concerned about large gatherings because of the contagiousness of the disease. County health officials are urging parents to make certain that their children have up-to-date vaccinations, and that adults have current vaccinations. The standard vaccine for pertussis is the DTaP, which provides immunity to diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
Vaccines save lives.
via Montana county experiences heightened number of whooping cough cases | Vaccine News Daily.
[...] hunting pseudoscience in the internet jungle Whooping cough: outbreak in Montana spreads (update)May 16, 2012 By: Michael Simpson Michael Simpson Filed in: Infectious disease | VaccinesThe Missoula (Montana) City-County Health Department is reporting a recent outbreak of whooping cough (Bordetella pertussis) in Missoula County and adjacent Ravilli County. The health officials have reported seven confirmed cases of pertussis in Missoula County and 50 in Ravilli county. The health department officials are calling this one of the worst outbreaks for the disease since the introduction of pertussis vaccines in the 1940′s. This outbreak follows a similar one in Flathead County. [...]