Whooping cough making a comeback as most adults fail to get recommended booster shot

(CBS News) - The first effective vaccine for whooping cough was developed in 1940. Before that, the respiratory infection killed thousands each year -- and it may be making a comeback.

Hundreds of cases are being reported in nine states. Washington State has declared an epidemic, with 1,484 cases. CBS News correspondent Dr. Jon Lapook has taken a look at what is behind the outbreak.

Heidi Bruch of Seattle did everything she was told during her pregnancy. Unfortunately, that didn't include getting a booster shot against whooping cough. She caught the disease and passed it to her two-week-old daughter, Caroline.

"My heart just sank. Oh my gosh" said Bruch. "I had inadvertently given my newborn a potentially fatal disease. It was a horrible feeling."

Caroline recovered after a month in the hospital, but it was touch-and-go. Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson is a pediatrician at the Everett Clinic in Mill Creek, Wash. Her county has seen 264 cases so far; that's more than the entire state had last year at this time.

"Newborns and infants in particular are at highest risk for complications," Swanson said. "They can have a serious, life-threatening pneumonia. They can have pauses, or cessation in their breathing, where they stop breathing."

Eighty-two percent of cases have been in children under age 18. All four fatalities in Washington since 2010 were infants.

Children get their first three doses of whooping cough vaccine at two, four and six months. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 95 percent of kids in the U.S. get those first vaccinations. But immunity wears off over time.

The CDC said adults need one booster shot after age 18. But today only 8 percent of adults get that recommended booster.

Washington Secretary of Health Mary Selecky is urging people to get immunized.

"This is about taking care of yourself, your family, but also your community," said Selecky.

"As a parent, you don't want to go through this," said Bruch. "Having this booster available: It's a no-brainer. Go and get it."

Last year, the CDC began recommending that pregnant women be vaccinated against whooping cough for two reasons: To protect mothers like Heidi Bruch; and because protective antibodies pass to a child before birth, which helps newborns too young to be vaccinated themselves.

[transluscentnuisance]

Articles like this that claim these vaccines are "safe" always get under my skin. First of all what is the definition of the word "safe"? Well let's look at the merriam dictionary;

"safe-adj
1 : free from harm or risk : unhurt
2 a : secure from threat of danger, harm, or loss
b : successful at getting to a base in baseball without being put out
3: affording safety or security from danger, risk, or difficulty
4obsolete of mental or moral faculties : healthy, sound
5a : not threatening danger : harmless
b : unlikely to produce controversy or contradiction
6a : not likely to take risks : cautious"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/safe

So the word "safe" obviously means free from risk of harm right? Well let's look at what the Centers For Disease Control tells us about the seizure risk associated with childhood vaccinations:

"Is there an increased risk for febrile seizures after childhood vaccines?Febrile seizures can occur when a child has a fever from any cause. They are most common afterinfections, including those that can be prevented by vaccination. But in rare instances, febrileseizures can occur after vaccination."
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Vaccines/MMRV/qa_FebrileSeizures.html

So no these vaccines are not safe. Stop telling us WE are the crazy ones. Merck, a big vaccine manufacturer reveals to us in one of its manuals that vaccines can cause the brain damaging encephalitis:

"Autoimmune Encephalitis: After certain infections or vaccines, the body's immune system sometimes attacks the layers of tissue that wrap around nerve fibers (called the myelin sheath) in the brain and spinal cord The attack occurs because proteins in myelin resemble those in the virus. As a result, nerve transmission becomes very slow. The resulting disorder, called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, resembles multiple sclerosis except that symptoms do not come and go as they do in multiple sclerosis. The viruses most often involved include Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus."

http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/brain_spinal_cord_and_nerve_disorders/brain_infections/encephalitis.html


The Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources actually considers these vaccines as infectious waste if not used:


"Depending on vaccine ingredients, discarded vaccines may be infectious waste, hazardous waste or non-hazardous solid waste (regular tr
Vaccines that may be infectious waste when discarded
As of January 21, 2010, the following vaccines that contain live attenuated virus are infectious waste when discarded, according to the Wisconsin Division of Public Health:
H1N1 Influenza LAIV - only FluMist®
Influenza 2009/10 Formula — only FluMist®
MMR — M-M-R® II
MMR-Varicella — ProQuad®
Rotavirus — RotaTeq® and Rotarix®
Typhoid Fever — only Vivotif®
Varicella Zoster — Varivax® and Zostavax®
Yellow Fever - YF-Vax®...
Vaccines that may be hazardous waste when discarded
Some vaccines are preserved with 1:10,000 or 0.01 percent Thimerosal (see the vaccines in the table titled "Thimerosal Content in Some U.S. Licensed Vaccines" at www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm that have .01% in the Thimerosal Concentration column). Thimerosal contains about 50 percent mercury by weight. Vaccines with 1:10,000 or 0.01 percent Thimerosal have about 50 mg/L mercury, which exceeds the 0.2 mg/L hazardous waste toxicity characteristic regulatory level for mercury. According to state and federal hazardous waste management requirements, discarded Thimerosal-preserved vaccines may need to be managed as hazardous waste, using the waste code D009 (mercury). "


http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/publications/anewpub/WA841.pdf

That's another Governmental Organization for those who don't know. Stop telling us we're the crazy ones for not wanting to put HAZARDOUS WASTE in our bodies please. Furthermore the CDC has even admitted that this whooping cough epidemic wasn't caused by the anti-vaccine movement:

"Patti emphasized that pertussis isn't spreading because of an anti-vaccine movement. Among possible reasons for the recent spike are that diagnoses in teens and adults are getting better and doctors are doing a better job with reporting, she added"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-10/whooping-cough-epidemic-Washington/54884494/1

[kennethakatscott]

Hello,
This is ridiculous! My niece's baby died here in August 2011 from Pertussis. I have initiated all of the public announcements they have done to date.
They would have needed to actually tell the adults they needed the shot before they can accuse them of not getting them. The CDC and DOH have know for over since before 2005 that the childhood vaccine wears off in 5 to 10 years, that is why they created Tdap. The CDC never told adults they needed this new booster shot, only health care providers who have not passed that info along. It is the CDC and DOH responsibility to get this info to the public but they will not spend the money to do so. They also will not tell you there is an epidemic. We had to threaten them here in Washington state, I set up both the public service announcement and the postcard campaign they have done and they didn't even want to do that! They will only tell health care providers in the event of a recommendation or epidemic!!!!! We had epidemic levels in our state since January and they didn't say anything until April and that was only because we made them. I have many emails to prove all of this. We have initiated a bill to make them tell the public in the event of an epidemic, right now they do not have to, no one is responsible. Please see Kaliah's Bill at http://www.change.org/petitions/bill-to-require-cdc-notice-to-citizens-in-epidemic-area-kaliah-s-bill
Thanks,

[kennethakatscott]

Hello,
This is ridiculous! My niece's baby died here in August 2011 form Pertussis. I have initiated all of the public announcements they have done top date.
They would have needed to actually tell the adults they needed the shot before they can accuse them of not getting them. The CDC and DOH have know for over since before 2005 that the childhood vaccine wears off in 5 to 10 years, that is why they created Tdap. The CDC never told adults they needed this new booster shot, only health care providers who have not passed that info along. It is the CDC and DOH responsibility to get this info to the public but they will not spend the money to do so. They also will not tell you there is an epidemic. We had to threaten them here in Washington state, I set up both the public service announcement and the postcard campaign they have done and they didn't even want to do that! They will only tell health care providers in the event of a recommendation or epidemic!!!!! We had epidemic levels in our state since January and they didn't say anything until April and that was only because we made them. I have many emails to prove all of this. We have initiated a bill to make them tell the public in the event of an epidemic, right now they do not have to, no one is responsible. Please see Kaliah's Bill at http://www.change.org/petitions/bill-to-require-cdc-notice-to-citizens-in-epidemic-area-kaliah-s-bill
Thanks,

Kat

[kennethakatscott]

Couple of typos sorry!

[kennethakatscott]

PATRICK THOMAS IS POISON, PLEASE BLOCK HIM!

[Patrick_Thomas]

The vaccination is a complete failure and the unvaccinated are not to blame. I have proof:

A collection of mainstream news reports and studies exploding the whooping cough vaccine myth

http://www.dailypaul.com/167931/a-collection-of-mainstream-news-reports-and-studies-exploding-the-whooping-cough-vaccine-myth

[Former_Marine_Sgt]

Gee Patrick - cherry picking just the few stories that prove your skewed (and fevered) opinion isn't doing the world any good.

Go be an unbiased reporter if you dare. Go be unbiased in your reporting of the FULL set of facts. OR are your beleifs strong enough to survive the full weight of ALL the facts regarding vaccines?

No vaccine is perfect. This includes that a small percentage of the total can still get the disease they were innoculated against. This is no secret, this is absolute fact. All you've discovered is this fact.

And the Australia issue you bring up - one isolated country isn't a complete picture of the issue. Go look at ALL the facts, not just the ones that fit your biases.

[Patrick_Thomas]

(Australia ends free vaccines for adults because it's ineffective):

"PARENTS across Australia will no longer receive free whooping cough vaccinations because it is not effective in protecting newborns from the potentially deadly illness, a parliamentary committee has heard."

"The PBAC, which is totally independent and very expert, has determined that there is no clinical effectiveness of this strategy," Professor Brook said.

He said this had made it clear the cocooning strategy should not be continued.
"So all jurisdictions who have been in this program will be effectively ceasing the cocooning strategy as of the end of June this year."

"There has been a national committee meet to look at this and to make decisions on the basis of the best scientific evidence available ... the evidence is that the strategy has not been effective."


http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/states-ending-free-parent-whooping-vaccine/story-e6frfku0-1226350174856

[Patrick_Thomas]

(Proof that the vaccine is CAUSING outbreaks and making cases more severe):

(Excerpt): Microbiologists from the University of NSW have found variants of the pertussis bacteria with a particular genetic signature have increased to 86 per cent of all samples taken from infected people after a continuing disease epidemic began in 2008. Although the strains were present in Australia as early as 2000, they accounted for only 31 per cent of all samples collected between 2000 and 2007 - suggesting they have flourished alongside the current vaccine.... An acellular vaccine - introduced in Australia in 1997 - appeared to have promoted the spread of these variants, Dr Lan said, which overseas authorities had linked to "higher virulence on the basis of hospitalisation and case mortality data".

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/whooping-cough-beats-vaccine-20120320-1vibp.html

[Patrick_Thomas]

(CDC admits your vaccinated kids are spreading this disease):

"Vaccinated adolescents and adults may serve as reservoirs for silent infection and become potential transmitters to unprotected infants (3-11). The whole-cell vaccine for pertussis is protective only against clinical disease, not against infection (15-17). Therefore, even young, recently vaccinated children may serve as reservoirs and potential transmitters of infection." "Our results indicate that children ages 5-6 years and possibly younger, ages 2-3 years, play a role as silent reservoirs in the transmission of pertussis in the community."

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/5/00-0512_article.htm

[Patrick_Thomas]

(North Carolinians confused as to why all 103 cases fully vaxed and no unvaccinated kids got it):

(Excerpt): ... (the) outbreak...has grown to include more than 103 cases.....SHAPLEY-QUINN SAID there's no instance of a child who had not been vaccinated getting pertussis....

(SHOT DOWN !!!) Board member Tony Rose had asked for information about the number of students who don't get vaccinations because of religious or other reasons. "I think it's 15 kids in your entire system (who) have an exemption for medical or religious reasons," Shapley-Quinn said. None of the pertussis cases involved those students, she said.

Bass said the system has a "really good vaccination rate," which "raises questions about the vaccine itself" and its effectiveness in preventing the disease.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/school-53424-department-health.html

[Patrick_Thomas]

(Mainstream researcher admits vaccine failure and unvaccinated NOT to blame):

Witt said that when he started the study he expected to see the illness concentrated in unvaccinated people. But more than 80 per cent of the children who developed whooping cough in Witt's study were fully vaccinated. "I was disturbed to find maybe we had a little more confidence in the vaccine than it might deserve," said the lead researcher, Dr. David Witt, chief of infectious disease at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Rafael, California.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-19/lifestyle/30176444_1_whooping-cough-booster-shot-highly-contagious-bacterial-disease