AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Whooping cough making dangerous comeback.
2004 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Whooping cough, one of those ancient scourges that infant vaccination was meant to wipe out, is making a dangerous comeback: It turns out the vaccine that babies get starts wearing off by adolescence.
With outbreaks striking teenagers and adults, the U.S. government soon will decide if it's time for booster shots against the cough so violent it can break a rib. GlaxoSmithKline recently sought U.S. Food and Drug Administration permission to sell a booster; competitor Aventis Pasteur isn't far behind.
While boosters are debated, however, don't lose sight of the real risk: Whooping cough can kill newborns before they start getting their vaccinations. And while older patients usually recover, they can easily spread the disease, known medically as pertussis, to infants.
"Parents who have very young infants need to get them vaccinated as early as possible," advised Dr. Trudy Murphy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Anyone who's coughing should "avoid contact with young infants on the chance this maybe is unrecognized pertussis."
Pertussis is a bacterial infection. Initial coldlike symptoms lead to fits of 15-20 coughs in a row that leave patients gasping for air - often, but not always, with a high-pitched "whoop."
The incidence of pertussis plummeted in industrialized nations after vaccination began in the 1940s. It now is on the rise again globally.
Why isn't clear, but it's thought to be at least partly due to waning immunity. Children get five doses of pertussis vaccine between ages 2 months and 6 years. The protection begins to drop 5-10 years after the last shot.
- Couple who lost son to whooping cough join immunization push.
- Newspaper article from: Vaccine Weekly May 12, 2004 700+ words
...with the disease. Whooping cough, or pertussis, has...counties, she said. Whooping cough rates have risen despite...and adults can get whooping cough, and although they...article was prepared by Vaccine Weekly editors from staff...
- Cases of whooping cough piling up in Colorado.
- Newspaper article from: Vaccine Weekly May 5, 2004 700+ words
...for pertussis, or whooping cough, is recommended for...month old who get whooping cough die of it. At press...had gotten sick with whooping cough, the state health...article was prepared by Vaccine Weekly editors from staff...
- Illinois warns of whooping cough outbreak.
- Newspaper article from: Vaccine Weekly July 14, 2004 700+ words
...immunized against whooping cough in light of a lingering...number of people with whooping cough in the United States...article was prepared by Vaccine Weekly editors from staff...Copyright 2004, Vaccine Weekly via NewsRx.com...
- Whooping cough cases rising in U.S. as vaccine weakens over time.
- News wire article from: Knight Ridder Washington Bureau (Washington, DC) April 11, 2005 700+ words
...Seth Borenstein COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Whooping cough, a disease Americans figured they...tells parents that their child has whooping cough, something he has been doing a lot...pertussis _ the scientific name for whooping cough _ steadily rose in 1980s and 1990s...
- Whooping cough spreads.
- News wire article from: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire September 11, 2002 700+ words
...Canterbury mum fears children with whooping cough are being misdiagnosed with asthma...asthma before he was diagnosed with whooping cough. The eight-year-old, who was...is one of the nine reported cases of whooping cough in Canterbury last week. His seven...
- 4 have whooping cough.
- Newspaper article from: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX) November 6, 2006 700+ words
...health officials are trying to quash a whooping cough outbreak that's infected at least...Glowicz said. In 2005, more than 75 whooping cough cases were diagnosed in Collin County...families in Collin County came down with whooping cough, Ms. Glowicz said. Health officials...
- Moms in First Line of Defense to Wipe Out Whooping Cough.
- Press release article from: PR Newswire June 7, 2006 700+ words
...s been on the rise nationwide - whooping cough, known medically as pertussis. The only way to wipe out whooping cough is through vaccination, including...for the new adult and adolescent whooping cough booster vaccine, film and television...
- New Guidance on Adult Whooping Cough Vaccination Endorsed by National...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire October 27, 2005 700+ words
...adults should be protected against whooping cough. The recommendations call for the...adolescents, become vulnerable to whooping cough (pertussis) as childhood immunizations...and transmit the disease. Cases of whooping cough in adults increased 150 percent between...
- Old disease rears up though shot can prevent it: Whooping cough, once nearly...
- News wire article from: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) December 21, 2006 700+ words
...that pertussis is another name for whooping cough. Debbie Quinn's first thought was...Despite widespread vaccination for whooping cough -- about 86 percent of children nationally...rise. During the 1930s and 1940s, whooping cough sickened an average of 200,000 people...
- New Survey Reveals Few Parents are Concerned about their Preteen or Teen...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire July 24, 2007 700+ words
...booster shot to help protect against whooping cough, a serious disease that has been on...MSN, executive director, NASN. "Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that...shots that can help protect them from whooping cough and other serious diseases." Parents...
Source: HighBeam Research, Whooping cough making dangerous comeback.