Whooping cough outbreak in South Florida
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting about a whooping cough (pertussis) outbreak in South Florida area. There have been other outbreaks reported in Wisconsin, Washington state, Illinois, British Columbia, England, and Australia. This upsurge in whooping cough cases can mostly be blamed on falling vaccination rates and the lack of booster vaccinations in adults. Importantly, whooping cough can be prevented, with almost no risk, with a DaTP vaccine.
Though the number of actual cases in south Florida is still relatively low, it is a large increase over last year. There is a larger outbreak in the Tampa area, which is also far ahead of last year’s levels. A two-month old infant died of the infection in Palm Beach County. Two month olds are too young to be vaccinated, so the baby probably picked it up from someone who was not vaccinated (or an adult whose immunity had lapsed). Thus, it is critical that siblings and adults get vaccinated so they don’t pass the disease to babies who lack immunity to pertussis.
Furthermore, unvaccinated children who are in pediatrician’s offices to be treated for whooping cough, which is highly contagious, can pass the infection to other unvaccinated infants (those who are too young to be vaccinated) in that same office. So whenever you hear the anti-vaccination lunatics rant about how their choices do no harm, they are outright liars.
Unvaccinated babies are up to 10X more likely to contract whooping cough. And about half of those babies must be hospitalized. And the prognosis for those hospitalized can be serious, including death. In adults, it also can be dangerous. There are many reports of adults whose coughing is so violent that it breaks ribs.
Once again, vaccines save lives.
via Whooping cough infections spread through South Florida | Vaccine News Daily.
[...] South Florida–new outbreak in Ft. Lauderdale [...]
I was reading some articles and they say that even though you held the vaccines can be infected but the disease would be more mild.
I was coughing for four weeks and the doctor told me it was allergies, natural remedies remove me cough, but in the office where I work people still coughing, there are people who are coughing since February.
When I comment on the letter that my daughter received in the school about the disease they say is a disease of children and that they could not have.
My neighbor has a bad cough since February and his granddaughter also has not stopped coughing since January.
I think people need to get more information about this disease.
The immunity to whooping cough from a vaccination lasts about 10 years, I believe. If you’re an adult Mario, you probably need to get re-vaccinated, but if you caught it naturally, then you’re immunized for another 10 years.
It’s not a fun disease to catch for adults, imagine what it’s like for a baby.