Whooping Cough Outbreak in San Diego, California
Community of Eastlake Monday, October 18th, 2010There have been 662 confirmed cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, reported in 2010. There were 143 cases in all of 2009 and the previous high for the county was 371 cases in 2005.
Pertussis (whooping cough) is very contagious and can cause serious illness especially in infants who are too young to be fully vaccinated.
Make sure your infants and young children get their recommended five shots on time. Adolescent and adult vaccination is also important, especially for families with new infants.
“Parents need to make sure their children are immunized and make sure they are also getting the necessary booster shots,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County Public Health Officer. “We recommend that people with medical coverage go to their private provider to obtain their immunizations and people with no primary care physician can go to HHSA’s Public Health Centers.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children get one dose of DTaP vaccine at the following ages: 2 months; 4 months; 6 months; 15 to 18 months and 4 to 6 years.
The CDC also recommends that children receive a booster shot of Tdap vaccine at 10-11 yrs. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommends an adolescent-adult pertussis booster vaccine (Tdap) for everyone 10 years or older who has not yet received it, especially women of childbearing age, before, during, or immediately after pregnancy; and other people, including household contacts, caregivers, and health care workers, who have contact with pregnant women or infants.
Pertussis can cause serious illness in infants, children and adults. The disease starts like the common cold, with runny nose or congestion, sneezing, and maybe mild cough or fever. But after 1–2 weeks, severe coughing begins. Infants and children with the disease cough violently and rapidly, over and over, until the air is gone from their lungs and they’re forced to inhale with a loud “whooping” sound.
Pertussis is most severe for babies; more than half of infants less than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized. About 1 in 20 infants with pertussis get pneumonia (lung infection), and about 1 in 100 will have convulsions. In rare cases, pertussis can be deadly, especially in infants.
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Posted by Eastlaketimes on Oct 18 2010. Filed under Community of Eastlake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
