Whooping Cough Rising at an Epidemic Rate: ‘My Biggest Concern Is for the Babies’
- Posted on July 20, 2012 at 8:47am by
Liz Klimas
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A child receives a Tdap whooping cough booster shot. (Photo: AP/Ted S. Warren)
ATLANTA (The Blaze/AP) — The U.S. appears headed for its worst year for whooping cough in more than five decades, with the number of cases rising at an epidemic rate that experts say may reflect a problem with the effectiveness of the vaccine and parents rebelling against vaccines as a whole.
(Related: AP: Parents Increasingly Opting Children Out of Vaccines — But Are There Consequences?)
Nearly 18,000 cases have been reported so far – more than twice the number seen at this point last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. At this pace, the number for the entire year will be the highest since 1959, when 40,000 illnesses were reported.
Nine children have died, and health officials called on adults – especially pregnant women and those who spend time around children – to get a booster shot as soon as possible.
“My biggest concern is for the babies. They’re the ones who get hit the hardest,” said Mary Selecky, chief of the health department in Washington, one of the states with the biggest outbreaks. Washington and Wisconsin have reported more than 3,000 cases each, and high numbers have been seen in a number of other states, including New York, Minnesota and Arizona.
Whooping cough has generally been increasing for years, but this year’s spike is startling. Health investigators are trying to figure out what’s going on, and theories include better detection and reporting of cases, some sort of evolution in the bacteria that cause the illness, or shortcomings in the vaccine.
Watch this CBS report on the CDC’s warning:
The vaccine that had been given to young children for decades was replaced in the late 1990s following concerns about rashes, fevers and other side effects. While the new version is considered safer, it is possible it isn’t as effective long term, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, who oversees the CDC’s immunization and respiratory disease programs.
Some parents in California and other states have rebelled against vaccinations and gotten their children exempted from rules that require them to get their shots to enroll in school. Washington state has one of the highest exemption rates in the nation. But the CDC said that does not appear to be a major factor in the outbreak, since most of the youngsters who got sick had been vaccinated.
The Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. Its name comes from the sound children make as they gasp for breath. Listen to what whooping cough sounds like in a child here.
Whooping cough illness progression. (Image: CDC)
It used to be a common threat, with hundreds of thousands of cases annually. Cases gradually dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s, and the disease came to be thought of as a relic of another age. For about 25 years, fewer than 5,000 cases were reported annually in the U.S. The numbers started to climb again in the 1990s.
In both 2004 and 2005, cases surpassed 25,000. The numbers dipped for a few years but jumped to more than 27,000 in 2010, the year California saw an especially bad epidemic.
Experts believe whooping cough occurs in cycles and peaks every three to five years. But they have been startled to see peaks this high. Vaccinations are supposed to tamp down the amount of infection in the population and make the valleys in the cycles longer, said Pejman Rohani, a University of Michigan researcher who is co-leader of a federally funded study of whooping cough trends.
The government recommends that children get vaccinated in five doses, with the first shot at age 2 months and the final one between 4 and 6 years. A booster shot is recommended around 11 or 12.
Vaccination rates for young children are good – about 84 percent of 3-year-olds have gotten the recommended number of shots. But fewer than 70 percent of adolescents have gotten all their shots. Most states require pertussis vaccinations for school attendance.
In a possible indicator of a problem with the vaccine, investigators in Washington state were alarmed to see high rates of whooping cough in youngsters around 13 and 14.
Whooping cough typically starts with cold-like symptoms that can include a runny nose, congestion, fever and a mild cough. The CDC advises parents to see a doctor if they or their children develop a prolonged or severe cough. Whooping cough is treated with antibiotics, the earlier the better.
Health authorities are girding for what may be a bad couple of years.
“There is a lot of pertussis out there, and there may be more coming to a place near you,” Schuchat said.
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Comments (46)
davecorkery
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 3:27pmThis is what happens when you let religious wingnuts control the teaching of science, or allowing them to spew their lunacy without challenging them. Jesus can’t cure you. Medicine can.
Report Post »formidable_foe
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 4:25pm@Davecorkery,
I agree AND disagree with you. I disagree that “Jesus can’t cure you,” and I agree that people who refuse medicine are foolish. Those relying solely on God to save them is a means of testing God. Not good. I have never understood how some people cannot view medicine, medical advances, vaccines, etc. as gifts/blessings from God. God uses us in his service and He has given us the intellect and skills to treat these diseases. How is accepting treatment seen as a rejection of God. It simply doesn’t make sense.
Report Post »bornbitter
Posted on July 21, 2012 at 2:22amUmm… you must have missed reading this in the article, let me highlight this for you:
“Washington state has one of the highest exemption rates in the nation. But the CDC said that does not appear to be a major factor in the outbreak, since most of the youngsters who got sick had been vaccinated.”
…MOST of the children who got sick DID rely on medical science and medicine. It is failing them, that’s the crux of the article: the vaccine’s effectiveness is dropping. So, when medical science has failed you, when you’ve done all you can, where do you go to get healing other than Christ?
…I hear the amazonian witch-doctors are smearing sloth spit on people, you might try that I guess.
Report Post »ConservativeMomofFour
Posted on July 21, 2012 at 2:56amin 2010 the number of cases increased in California, hmmm do you think it might be do to the amount of Illegals crossing the Northern and Southern borders? And another thing, I had that immunization over 40 years ago and it kept me safe all these years. But yet “THEY” changed it in the 90‘s and it isn’t working? why did they stop using the one that has been proven to work since the 40′s? because kids might get a fever? or a rash? well which is worse? whooping cough that is highly contagious and can cause death or a fever.
Report Post »battles
Posted on July 21, 2012 at 8:22amYour hatred of God is noted. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the author of all good medicines. I would suggest that you talk about topics that you have at least a morsel of knowledge about. There have been some miracle cures done by God to believers in Christ as well as to some non-believers, but even if you were to hear of one, you would deny it.
Report Post »TELITLYKITIS
Posted on July 21, 2012 at 2:23pmBy doing some simple investigating One will find that in recent years We have been bombarded with an increase of Government decisions that force the vaccination of Us and Our children. At the same time there has been an increase in either new diseases or old ones, ie, this Whooping cough, and more worrysome the increase in Autism– now at a rate of 1 in 80 …Who will be left in 50 years to care for these people when just a few years ago the rat was 1 in 125 ????????
Report Post »Grey Eagle
Posted on July 21, 2012 at 10:06pmThis is what happens when Chiropractors tell their patients that immunizations are harmful for you. Pertussis can kill infants and very small children because of going into respiratory arrest. It is a very contagious airborne disease.
Report Post »DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
Posted on July 22, 2012 at 8:21amDAVECORKERY – take your hate somewhere else.
Report Post »IndependentAmericanParty
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 2:49pmC’mmon people, it’s time to wake up and accept the fact that the vast majority of whooping cough cases come from having been injected with the whooping cough vaccine. The same goes for polio cases – it comes from the polio vaccine so much of the time. So many of the different forms of cancer are caused by vaccines, too. The medical industry run by the elitist eugenicists like Bill Gates is evil. These eugenicists are purposely putting cancer viruses and things of the like in vaccines. They are forcibly inoculating people and forcibly sterilizing people. Their goal is the depopulation of the planet. Illegal aliens didn’t start the epidemic, and it didn’t happen by accident – it was purposely cause by the criminal tyrants who run the new world order. Sounds crazy? Perhaps. But the truth is stranger than fiction, so get used to it.
Report Post »TheBurningTruth
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 3:23pmYou‘re an eff’in idiot. Vaccinations have virtually eliminated a number of very deadly illnesses, polio being one that you mentioned. These diseases were prevalent BEFORE vaccinations were developed and now they’re very rare.
The real cause for the comeback of many of these diseases is that people from all over the world that have NOT been vaccinated and where these diseases are common are coming here. There’s NO coincidence that the worst breakout is in CA where people from all over the world come. Our “immigration policy” is also a “disease immigration policy”. This is, of course, a politically unacceptable viewpoint. However, if you knew anybody that has worked in the Health Industry (doctors and nurses) that don’t have an interest in immigration, they’ll tell you the truth, unofficially of course.
Report Post »bornbitter
Posted on July 21, 2012 at 2:41am@Theburningtruth:
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but there are two sides to every story.
Bill Gates did speak to TED about global warming, his solution: Reduce world population. How? “…do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services…”
Watch for yourself.
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=A155D113455FAC882A3290536575C723
Now, I don’t know about you, but “really good” healthcare, and vaccines being responsible for cutting global population sounds kinda fishy to me. Vaccines have been very helpful in the past, but things change over time. I know they aren‘t using the same formula that ’nearly eradicated’ things.
Not a theorist, but I do have my eyes open to both sides. It may just be that both sides are right. Ever considered that?
Report Post »kadster01
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 2:34pm“While the new version is considered safer, it is possible it isn’t as effective long term…”
Ain’t that a surprise. One more thing that wasn’t broken somebody tried to fix and ended up making it inferior. What’s worse? Kids getting a rash or temporary fever, or not being able to take a breath because they’re coughing their heads off? Made it “safer?” You made it useless.
Report Post »cassandra
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 2:01pmanother scourge that illegals have brought to this country
Report Post »ddg7
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 7:07pmRight you are @Cassandra! No one talks about the increase in tuberculosis in our children that stems from south of the border.
Report Post »airportengineer
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:44pmThank You Hillary!
That All Children need free vaccines has led to the closure of half of the vaccine manufactures, us fighting to get our vaccines when pandemics break out, and now low quality vaccines! Brilliant government intervention to fix a manufactured problem that didn’t exist to begin with! NICE! Just like Obamacare! I can’t wait see how that one plays out in 15 yrs!
Report Post »YourVoiceMatters
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:34pmis the vaccine coming from china? just wondering?
Report Post »Guitar Master
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:06pmzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
From THE REPORTER
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Whooping cough outbreaks. . . . Tuberculosis outbreaks. . . . Gang violence outbreaks. . . . Drugs. . . .
You don’t think there is a connection to open borders do you?? Nahhhhhh, couldn’t be !!!
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:36pmyou should look at he tb rates in my state of wa. way more concerned about those than the whooping cough. thanks to being an importing state where we import people with no health checks. nice for us locals right
Report Post »65Plus
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:04pmCould this – just mebbe – be the result of….“illegal immigration”? Most of the new TB, STD, etc., cases are.
Report Post »bigfatslob
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:11pmExactly ! Thankyou ILLEGAL MEXICANS for bringing this 3rd world disease back to our country along with bedbugs…VIVA LA RAZA ! (LONG LIVE THE RACE)
Report Post »carbonated
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:27am“The government recommends that children get vaccinated in five doses, with the first shot at age 2 months and the final one between 4 and 6 years.”…. “But the CDC said that does not appear to be a major factor in the outbreak, since most of the youngsters who got sick had been vaccinated.”
The gov. says “get vaccinated”. The data says “what’s the point”.
The gov. responds “Shut up and take your medicine.”
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:15amA government that does not protect it‘s borders and it’s people is, by default, an illegitimate government. Open borders and unprotected borders bring you nothing but horrors. Third world criminals, enemies, terrorists, and diseases pour in upon us and our government does nothing. Our government is illegitimate.
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:58am…
Report Post »The unvaccinated Mexicans brought this disease back into the U.S.
Diaphanous Mine
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:14amA few years ago I saw a commercial on TV where Jennifer Lopez was urging people to get vaccinated for this. It appeared to be a commercial from a drug company. I was kind of shocked at their boldness. This news hadn’t arrive yet of course.
Did anyone ever follow the whole H1N1 deal, where it appeared to end up that drug companies had been lobbying the UN and everyone else to make big deal about it. It was major news, but ignored by most.
When there is money involved, it affects my perspective greatly on motive.
They hold the keys to many of these diseases, also are lobbied by the drug companies who hold the keys to the cure.
What if a single person held a disease, and at the same time worked with companies who held the vaccine? Then they benefited from them scaring people into buying their product. We would investigate them fully I’m sure. What if the government has just grown into this mess of aligned agendas, and there is just money to be made and control to be gained?
The forces at play here are astounding. Cynicism stinks, and conspiracy theories just help cloud things up. Wow,they are scaring us into buying something, and at the same time being the ones who control what is scaring us, my underwear starts to get in a twist…
What if this is what our system has become? It’s like we have a new religion, and he rules with panic. The environment, the plague, what’s next? The govt is now too big to fail. What if it just is.
It reminds of
Report Post »feesvam7
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:11amSorry I double posted. I didn’t think fiirst one went. :-|
Report Post »GeeWhiz
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:08amSpeaking to the science of this, and not the hyperbolic or delusional…The rise is whooping cough cases, at least recently, have been traced to previously vaccinated ADULTS.
When kids get the series, they get a DPT…diptheria, pertusssis (whooping cough), tetanus. Five shots, and they used to think ‘yer done’ with the pertussis part. An adult is supposed to get tetanus boosters every 7-10 years and they used to automatically give the DPT. Then, they CHANGED that to giving only a Td (tetanus and diptheria). One because WC was seen to be a disease of childhood and that adults were fully vaccinated. Why give a vax when you don’t need it, right?
Uh, wrong. When they had a big outbreak in CA a few years back, they realized that little ones were getting it from vaccinated adults with decreasing immunity…For myself as an RN in a past life, when I read this and knew that me and mine needed tetanus boosters, I requested that we ALL got DPTs instead of the Tds.
About a year later, the CDC was recommending that all adults get DPT boosters, instead of the Td. Government is slow, eh.
How many adults actually give a damn about vaccinations as adults unless they are traveling and it’s required? How many think about getting boosters? For me, tetanus boosters are something that I’ve always done religiously. I’m a gardener and you can get tetanus from the dirt, merely from a scratch. So for ‘us’, we should be getting them about every seven years.
Report Post »feesvam7
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:08amIt’s easy to want to point a finger of blame (ie: illegal immigrants, non-vaccinating parents, etc) But this never leads to any answers! We have to start asking better questions! Example: Why is it that it is the children who ARE getting vaccinated who are getting sick? The CDC said it themselves!
Report Post »feesvam7
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:00amIt is very easy to want to point a finger of blame (ie: illegal immigrants) immigration, legal or illegal is not the problem. We all need to start asking better questions. Example: Why is it that the children who ARE getting vaccinated are the ones getting sick? The CDC said it themselves!
Report Post »blanco5
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 10:14amYes, it’s very easy to point at illegals. http://www.usillegalaliens.com/impacts_of_illegal_immigration_diseases.html
Report Post »blanco5
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:54amThank you WIDE open borders and droves of third world country people streaming thru!
Report Post »Ronda
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:49amThey have to cause a scare because too many people are using their own minds and ‘rebelling’ against vaccines. The suggests that parents opting out is a possible cause, but also states that most of the children were vaccinated. I would love to see an article on how many of the kids on SSI for ADHD or Autism are children of those ‘rebels’. I would bet not too many.
Report Post »Mister1
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:31amMy dog at least has her shots up to date
Report Post »Bates
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:55amLOL Love it!!
Report Post »listeninginVT
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:25am1. native the statement the majority of those sick WERE vaccinated. 2. Big Pharma just settled, to the tune of $3Billion to US for lying about vaccines and other drugs, saying they work(BIG LIE), bribing Dr.s to push on to convince other Dr.s to promote to patients,Gov’t likened their practices to the mob. and NOTE: they settled because the fed’s collected whistleblowers, and a decade of evidence showing their drugs are scams, they hurt people, and the practice deceptive ads and flat out LIE to grow their business, paying Dr’s and others 1/2 mill a year to push these drugs as the ‘next best thing’, falsifying studies saying that the drugs work or the vaccines work, minimizing side effects and deaths, I could seriously keep going on ,Pharma’s are big time, gov’t approved, CROOKS. Just look at any of the stat‘s on progression of illness’, autism, etc…. the more kids are getting ‘preventative’ care, the sicker they are now and as adults. The kids that parents ‘opt out’ –which you ABSOLUTELY had the right to do, not matter what they tell you (research you state and the site will tell you what forms to fill out to be exempt from vaccines)–the kids that opt out, are healthier NOW and in the future, they have long term studies showing this to be true. AND ask yourself a question, IF these things are so good for us, WHY are we now so much sicker than EVER in our history, why are our ‘symptoms’ in illness now so beyond any historical data in the same illness?(going
Report Post »listeninginVT
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:35amfrom pre-vaccine to now). I suggest to everyone to research this out. The blame it on illegals is ridiculous. look at the ‘get them vaccinated w/ polio in India’, the gov’t there , I believe, pulled the plug on it after so many died, were crippled, or got really sick—-just like here when they did original polio vaccines in US, no one needed a lung machine before vaccines, the instance of death or being crippled, having permanent disfigurement was NON-existant before vaccines. India saw a country who does NOT have a polio problem to begin with, NOW FROM the vaccine they HAVE a polio problem, but the AMA is not tied to the gov’t there, so the shots are out, last I knew. Our Gov’t is hand and glove w/ AMA and Pharma, it’s all about the money. please Research this out, dig deep the info is out there, just like Glenn figuring out to Soro’s, people just need to look. be well.
Report Post »father of 2 from NJ
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:19amkeep letting illegals sneak in and keep getting your medical advice from playboy models and this is what happens.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:27amNone of these illegals have ever been vaccinated and of course are open to infections. I wonder if the numbers cited reflect the incidence of aliens suffering from the desease. Of coures, you know, it would be “Politically Incorrect” to give those facts.
Report Post »ValidFib
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:12amEmergency rooms are seeing cases of diseases that the US hasn’t seen in years. The Third World diseases are coming in through the open back door and America‘s health doesn’t matter. The new diseased voters are needed.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:05amFrom Mexico. Courtesy of the open window they crawl through.
Report Post »bdandsl
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:00amI live in Central California and we have had a rise in whooping cough, TB and measles and it is brought in by all the illegal aliens!
Report Post »salvawhoray
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 8:54amThats what happens when you let just anyone into America.
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