International Experts Call For New Strategy To Prevent Infant Deaths.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 30 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Parents and grandparents could be inadvertently putting their childrens' lives at risk, according to a new report from the International Consensus Group on Pertussis Immunisation.

The report follows numerous studies demonstrating that adults, usually parents, grandparents or healthcare workers, are a significant source of pertussis infection for infants in the first weeks of life. As a result, the Group are calling for a review of national pertussis (whooping cough) vaccination policies in order to prevent serious illness, and even death, in very young infants.

The number of cases of pertussis in older children, adolescents and adults is increasing throughout the world and the disease can cause severe illness, prolonged coughing, often with associated vomiting or choking, sleep loss, reduced productivity and time off work or school. However, patients in these groups rarely show the characteristic whooping cough and pertussis commonly goes undiagnosed.

More important, adults and adolescents act as a pool of infection for infants who have not yet completed a full course of immunization, making young babies worryingly susceptible to transmission of pertussis infection from those closest to them. Every year, the disease kills about 360,000 children worldwide, more than two-thirds of which are infants.

The report was published in a recent issue of the journal Vaccine (International Consensus Group on Pertussis Immunization. Recommendations are needed for adolescent and adult pertussis immunization: Rationale and strategies for consideration. Vaccine, December 2001;20(5-6):641-646)

Chair of the Group, professor Fred Zepp, head of the department of pediatrics, University of Mainz, Germany said, "The frequency of pertussis in adolescents, adults, and very young infants is increasing and we urgently need to assess existing vaccination strategies to curb this alarming rise. Pertussis is a severe and potentially fatal disease and a policy of boosting key ...