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California Faces Worst Whooping Cough Epidemic in 50 Years
Filed under: Health & Safety: Babies, In The News, Health & Safety: Teens, Health
California medical officials are urging residents to get booster shots for whooping cough, as the state is in the midst of the largest outbreak in over 50 years. Credit: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
The death toll -- now at seven -- has almost doubled and, with 2,700 cases of the disease reported, physicians' concerns have turned to alarm.
National Public Radio reports California now faces its worst whooping cough epidemic in 50 years.
Many physicians thought, like diphtheria, whooping cough was largely a thing of the past, and that it had been all but wiped out by vaccines.
But that's why the disease is particularly brutal to young children who have not yet been vaccinated or had a chance for their bodies to build up immunity to the disease.
The vaccine for whooping cough starts when a child is 2 months old. Booster shots are needed until age 5, and, NPR reports, it can take those five years for some children to build immunity.
Meanwhile, they're vulnerable.
It doesn't help that some parents in California refuse to get their children vaccinated. Childhood vaccines have been blamed for causing autism, a myth refuted by study after study. Some people also ascribe to the belief that vaccines are some sort of vast government conspiracy.
According to NPR, California's Department of Public Health cites three schools in the state where 80 percent of parents have signed a "personal belief exemption" to keep their children from being vaccinated.
Dr. Harvey Karp, a child development specialist and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California, tells NPR 75 to 90 percent of whooping cough cases are seen in teenagers and adults.
The disease is not particularly deadly in these older populations. However, Karp adds, many of the patients have lower immunities because people have not been diligent about getting booster shots.
This makes them vulnerable to the disease, which, in turn, they risk passing on to infants.
Booster shots for whooping cough and other maladies are available for adults, but many adults are unaware they should get booster shots every 10 years, NPR reports.
"Doctors -- especially pediatricians -- aren't doing a good enough job," Karp tells NPR. "When you go into the doctor's office for your child's care, your pediatrician should be telling you that you should be getting immunized as well."
Related: Whooping Cough Not a Disease of the Past, It's Here and Deadly
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 4)
8-16-2010 @ 2:17PM
Laura said...Whooping cough, like asthma is a very scary disease. Http://www.allergyreliefsecrets.info I had a friend that they kept in a drug-induced comas due to her asthma - we almost lost her!
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8-16-2010 @ 3:16PM
Al Schrader said...Put like a mask on everybody....Al-
8-16-2010 @ 11:03PM
MomHadIt said...I had all my vaccines as a kid. I had whooping cough anyways. It was no picnic. As for parents who don't vaccinate their kids, the kids don't deserve things like polio, diptheria, pertusis vs. no possibility of autism. Maybe they'd like for small pox to return. Only fools care more about getting a handicapped (autistic) kid than protecting them from the things vaccines prevent.
8-17-2010 @ 1:45AM
Sarah said...Yeah MomHadIt,
Point of your post? YOU HAD Whooping Cough even though you were vaccinated. So really what use was the vaccination other than FALSE assumption of immunity. Not everyone chooses not to vaccinate because they're scared of Autism. But since I have one of those "handicap" children with Autism, let's just say that having a LIFE LONG DISABILITY vs being sick and recovering and having REAL immunity are two different things. Apple to oranges.
8-16-2010 @ 2:40PM
LISA said...MY SON GOT HIS FIRST VACC. AT 2 MONTHS OLD THEN HE GOT WHOPPING COUGH THAT WAS 1991.IT TOOK THE DR.3 MONTHS TO DECIDE TO TEST FOR WHOPPING COUGH.WE THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DIE.THANK GOD HE WAS FINE AFTER THE PROPER MEDS.I HAVE 6 CHILDREN THEY ALL HAD THERE SHOTS.I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO VACCINATE THEIR CHILDREN
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8-17-2010 @ 3:34PM
DJ said...Why is it every time the Dems are in office Healthcare issues actually get worse and "unusual" diseases seem to "show up"? When Clinton was "in" office wasn't there a big "bubonic plague" scare? Of course, "Washington is n-e-v-e-r endangered", is it? It does seem to coincide with HUGE influxes of "ILLEGALS" and "JOBLESS/HOMELESSNESS", doesn't it?
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8-16-2010 @ 4:26PM
Lois Zimmerman said...Why is it that idiots like you will look to blame anything on this administration? How about the fact that YOU most likely voted for GW twice. how about that one, jerk!
8-16-2010 @ 5:39PM
MHJ said...What is your problem???? No one is blaming any administratiion. These are concerned citizens for our babies health and wellness. Yes the disease is b eing brought over by the children crossing the borders. Deal with it. This does happen. Be concerned with your family. No one wants to watch their grandchildren or children suffer needlessly!!! Neglect is the culprit here.
8-16-2010 @ 9:19PM
tyrebitre said..."DJ 8-16-2010 @ 2:50PM
Why is it every time the Dems are in office Healthcare issues actually get worse and "unusual" diseases seem to "show up"?"
"It does seem to coincide with HUGE influxes of "ILLEGALS""--------
You know, if it wasn't pure bullcr-p, I'd agree with you. Unfortunately for you, the facts are otherwise. but then, you don't care about details like facts and truth. The numbers of illegals crossing the border is down sharply; though the actual figures are impossible to determine, they are clearly declining. While violent crime is running rampant in Mexico, north of the border it is down: the four safest large cities in the USofA are ALL in border states and illegal immigrants hotspots - San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso, and Austin. The numbers of apprehended illegals is also down sharply (about 60%) since 2000, but the numbers of deportations is UP with some 400,000 expected this year ( a 10% increase over Bush's last year in office and a 25% increase over 2007 ). However, the number of US citizens who now think illegal immigration is a major concern is rising, up some 15% in the last year alone. So, the reality on the ground doesn't match what you believe.
8-16-2010 @ 7:38PM
N said...Geez Lois...a little HIGH strung aren't ya. You really should get that space between your ears examined or at the very least have your meds adjusted.
8-16-2010 @ 2:45PM
Aziz said...I agree that the rise of the diseases that were rare to Americans over the last decades seem to have a connection with the millions of illegal immigrants which flooded our society over the past 30 years.
Reply
8-17-2010 @ 9:41AM
Brian said...You have to love these half truth articles on vaccines...Why does the article not mention the total # of adverse events reported in the State data base. (VAERS) - vaers.hhs.gov/reportable.htm - look it up!!!.....They try to scare everyone into vaccines when only a tiny fraction of the population gets sick....follow the money$$$....The article does not mention disease getting carried across an unsecured border and that anyone who questions Alluminum and Formaldehyde getting injected into their kids must be kook conspiracy nuts....April 24th 2010 the FDA stopped all vaccinations for the required "Roto-Virus" vaccine beacause infants bowels were collapsing in on themselves causing several deaths....Big Pharma is winning the battle and the author of this article is helping to promote their agenda...Do your Homework....Sick for life is money for life....Wake Up America!!!....
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8-16-2010 @ 3:03PM
bill said...Illegal immigrants DO NOT get the state of the art vaccines like Americans do. Close the damn border already!!!
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8-16-2010 @ 7:58PM
sarah said...Vaccines supplied in other countries are as you put it "state of the art vaccines". They are manufactured by the same companies that we get our vaccines from and we can't just blame the immigrants for bringing so called "unusual" diseases back. Unfortunately there are way too many people in this county who do NOT vaccinate and from my experience( oh and btw I am a medical assistant in a pediatricians office), it is usually "the white upperclass" people who choose not to vaccinate their kids!
8-17-2010 @ 9:31AM
TXN said...I disagree with all the blame game on illegals for this disease as I took whooping cough when I was a child even though I had been given all the childhood vaccination shots. Thankfully, due to the fact that I did already have taken the vaccination I did not have as severe case as it could have been otherwise. It did however, left scar tissue and bronchial tubes scarred and now it is very easy for me to catch pneumonia because of having had whooping cough. Since then when I have a cough it sounds as though I have what they used to call the croop and it sounds horrible.This is something that has been in this nation and gone around in years past even before there was an influx of illegals in this country!
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8-16-2010 @ 3:26PM
mojo said...why doesn't the doctors tell us that we need booster shots for all of this stuff ? it is true that sicknesses that had almost been gone here in the US are back like whooping cough and TB. it is because people are coming here from other countries where vacinations are rarely done .it use to be when you immigrated in here thru places like ellis island you had to be checked out by a medical team before you were allowed to go on .if you were sick you were put in an infirmary to be treated.that no longer happens.plus all the illegals that also come in also do not get check for health issues.
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8-16-2010 @ 10:20PM
Bexybeau said...State of the art vaccines are the problem here... haven't you all hear of antibiotic resistant 'germs'? We've over used and abused antibiotics... this is the same thing happening with vaccines. When there is herd immunity, 'super' bugs are created... yes, even diseases we thought to be wiped out have been and are able to mutate and come back. The pertussis vaccine (Whooping Cough) is only 60% percent effective with all the doses required and the booster! The package from the manufacturer state this on the box. So, of course some kids will get sick and die when there's an outbreak EVEN WHEN VACCINATED! Vaccines haven't been around that long... we are all 'guinea pigs' concerning how effective vaccines actually are - the data will be coming out for decades to come.
8-17-2010 @ 3:52PM
chuck said...I survived whooping cough as a child. It was a miserable and frightening experience involving many late night hovering hours by my mother. Proper vaccinations almost wiped out many such diseases in this country but not world wide. "Internet Education" has created a smarter generation of parents who eschew inoculation. It's their choice and their price to pay.
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8-16-2010 @ 3:11PM
Manxie said...Part of the problem is the MEDIA....oh, I'm right.
They take a subject and run with it. Anything for higher ratings.
Second...we have these 'modern parents' that deny any kind of vaccinations for their kids because they think they're not 'safe'.
Give me a break...ok, so you're Little Johnny goea about without any vaccines, goes around a kid that has a light case of whatever,
but now Little Johnny and his assinine parents spread it like wild fire
because of said vaccines not given...because..afterall, these are MODERN PARENTS we speak of! lol
Then add the diseases that illegals bring with them...and voila!
Cases breaking out all over!! lol
Calm down people....you're doing exactly what the media wants.
Reply
8-17-2010 @ 4:06PM
john pezzullo said...are the shots free?