Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumFreedumb! Texas May Hit Highest Whooping Cough Caseload In 50 Years Or More
Texas is currently fighting a whooping cough epidemic, and officials fear that if current rates continue, the state will have the highest number of cases recorded in over 50 years.
The Texas Department of State Health Services told the Associated Press Tuesday that there have been 2,160 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, in the state this year. On Sept. 3, the Texas State Department of Health had reported 2,062 pertussis cases. Two deaths this year have been recorded so far, and they both occurred in children too young to be vaccinated.
"This is extremely concerning. Pertussis is highly infectious and can cause serious complications, especially in babies, so people should take it seriously," Dr. Lisa Cornelius, Texas infectious diseases medical officer, said to Reuters.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared 2012 as the worst year for whooping cough in nearly six decades. A total of 41,880 cases were initially recorded in 2012.
EDIT
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57602506/texas-battling-whooping-cough-epidemic/
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)Everyone that decides not to vaccinate their kids should have to sit and watch some poor little thing try to catch his or her breath while at the same time hacking their lungs out.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)Even then the DPT vac was around, and it was the ONLY one. While they don't want their kids vaccinated, I am assuming they also don't want them to actually GET these diseases either. Those are the only two paths to immunity; natural (getting the disease) immunity, or vaccinations. I was only a baby when I got Measles and Mumps, but I was 6 years old when I had Rubella. I DO remember that and it was not FUN. Chicken Pox was nothing in comparison.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)But the DPT vaccine wears off. I got Whooping Cough at age 11, and got a booster shot in 2010. My doctor says you can get Whooping Cough more than once. No way am I going to go through that again.
phantom power
(25,966 posts)I've never, ever gotten a "booster reminder" from a PCP. Hell, my dogs get regular vaccine booster reminders.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)and was told that if had the disease, I had immunity. Even when I went back to college in the 90s, the school said if you were born before 1957, you did not need to submit a record of immunizations. Other than Rubella and Chicken Pox, I was only a baby when I had most of those diseases.
Immunity doesn't just apply to what is normally thought of. It can apply with viruses to. Leaned that when my entire family except me had a very, very bad strain. I did not get it, because as the doctor said, I had it before. My 9 month old daughter, not completely weaned, had it to a minor degree. All she wanted to do was nurse. Let her, the doctor said. She was fine within 24 hours because as her pediatrician said, "You are passing your immunity on to her." Definitely worked.
I hate to say this, but it seems that actually HAVING these diseases bring greater immunity than vaccinations.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)Despite widespread use of the vaccine however, pertussis has persisted in vaccinated populations and is today one of the most prevalent vaccine-preventable diseases in Western countries. Recent resurgences in pertussis infections are attributed to a combination of waning immunity and new mutations in the bacteria that existing vaccines are unable to effectively control.[12][13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertussis
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)As for the rest of the stuff, what Wyoming did in the 1960s and 1970s is have us stand in line in the hallways while the school nurse and county health department give us shots for everything from Diphtheria to Rubella and Small Pox. They gave us some Niquil looking stuff for Polio. That was every year from second to fifth grade. What I hated was the air gun they used for Rubella. A couple of teachers would hold us still so the compressed air wouldn't rip the skin.
How did they do it in NY?
I thought all of that stuff was extinct.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)Nobody EVER tried to give me a Vac against Rubella.
brer cat
(24,401 posts)is because TX has a huge uninsured population? Maybe some of these parents can't afford it, and/or do not see a physician often enough to know that they need boosters.
hatrack
(59,439 posts)And, as noted above, the booster thing seems to be a serious hurdle.
With that measles outbreak at school, all staff was in a panic getting boosters. Having actually had measles, I just went about my business. "Lucky you", they all said to me. What can I say? I was working 1:1 with a boy who was not vaccinated against anything. Worried? Nope, because the odds were very slim I was going to catch anything from him, even if he came down with anything which he never did.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)what Wyoming did in the 1960s and 1970s is have us stand in line in the hallways while the school nurse and county health department give us shots for everything from Diphtheria to Rubella and Small Pox. They gave us some Niquil looking stuff for Polio.
xfundy
(5,105 posts)Maybe they might've done the opposite of what he commanded? Just a thought.