Whooping Cough Outbreak - IOWA

[VanessaTony 3,567]

http://www.kcci.com/r/25327706/detail.html

This might be old news but a girl I know on FB thinks she might have it.

People just be alert about this. It is a killer, more often children and the elderly. If you haven't been vaccinated go to the doc and find out, esp if you have kids or are around kids.

Most of us immigrants have the pertussis vaccine but your USC kids or husbands or visitors might not. Please be aware.

[payxibka 10,044]

Yet another reason to avoid IOWA... not that we needed one...

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Yet another reason to avoid IOWA... not that we needed one...

Aww come-on.. corn, soy beans... umm.. me Gotta love Iowa

Did I mention it was the clinton area which is on the border with Illinois? Yep, you're all doomed I'm safe holed up here in Aus

[nab 74]

http://www.kcci.com/...706/detail.html

This might be old news but a girl I know on FB thinks she might have it.

People just be alert about this. It is a killer, more often children and the elderly. If you haven't been vaccinated go to the doc and find out, esp if you have kids or are around kids.

Most of us immigrants have the pertussis vaccine but your USC kids or husbands or visitors might not. Please be aware.

pertusis isnt a 'killer'. children under 6 months old and those with other underlying conditions, if they get pertusis, are more at risk of pneumonia (sp?) which can kill them.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

pertusis isnt a 'killer'. children under 6 months old and those with other underlying conditions, if they get pertusis, are more at risk of pneumonia (sp?) which can kill them.

No matter which way you look at it GETTING pertussis causes some people to get sick and die. Whether from it or complications of it the point is the same.

Thank you for distracting the point simply because you felt the need to be "right".

You ever had whooping cough? I have. Have you ever watched an 80 something family member suffer and come close to death because you gave it to them? I have. So thank you for telling me it wasn't the whooping cough that nearly killed him. That sure would have allayed my feelings of guilt if he'd not gotten the medical assistance he needed.

Link: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Whooping_cough It's not always the pneumonia that kills. Unless you have experienced the hacking coughs, the desperate gasps of air you can have NO understanding of what it's like. I was laid up for MONTHS following "getting over it" and I was in peak physical condition at the time of catching it. I couldn't even swim 5 metres without almost passing out because the coughing got so bad. I play a brass instrument so i have strong lungs, I can only imagine what someone without my lung control would go through, and I saw it nearly kill someone.

Please get over your need to be "right". I didn't post this to be "right" but to warn people and it's a warning that needs to be given.

**Edited to add: "One in every 200 babies who contract whooping cough will die" from the link I posted. That scares me, if it doesn't you.

Edited October 18, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[nab 74]

do YOUR research and see how many people die each year from pertusis... then do your research and see how many are affected by the vaccine (which my child and i have been)

i wasnt trying to be "right", i was correcting a scare tactic used by vaccine makers... that you were passing on to others. i never said it wouldnt make you sick "if you get it", but pertusis wont "kill" you.

Edited October 18, 2010 by nab

[sandinista! 1,816]

do YOUR research and see how many people die each year from pertusis... then do your research and see how many are affected by the vaccine (which my child and i have been)

i wasnt trying to be "right", i was correcting a scare tactic used by vaccine makers... that you were passing on to others. i never said it wouldnt make you sick "if you get it", but pertusis wont "kill" you.

right, it just kills babies and old people. but some of us care about babies and old people dying or getting sick, especially when it can be prevented through vaccination.

the risk of a 6 month old or younger baby dying from pertussis is astronomically huger than any "risk" from the DTaP or TDaP vaccines.

Pertussis is fatal in an estimated one in 100 infants under 6 months, and fatal in one in 200 infants aged 2 to 12 months. Infants under one are also more likely to develop complications (eg pneumonia (20%), encephalopathy, seizures (1%), failure to thrive, and death (0.2%)). Pertussis can cause severe paroxysm-induced cerebral hypoxia and apnea. Reported fatalities from pertussis in infants have increased substantially over the past 20 years.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/967268-followup

thanks for bringing this up vanessa&tony, it's an important issue. one thing to remember, especially for new parents, is that pertussis immunity wears off. so when you get a tetanus booster, you should get a TDap, that has the pertussis component in it, to make you immune to pertussis again. because even though it probably won't kill you, it could kill yours or someone else's newborn, or yours or someone else's grandma or grandpa.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

thanks for bringing this up vanessa&tony, it's an important issue. one thing to remember, especially for new parents, is that pertussis immunity wears off. so when you get a tetanus booster, you should get a TDap, that has the pertussis component in it, to make you immune to pertussis again. because even though it probably won't kill you, it could kill yours or someone else's newborn, or yours or someone else's grandma or grandpa.

That's exactly why I got it. My mother wasn't told about the "booster" and when I gave it to the rest of the family, including my 80 something y/o father she was even more ticked off about not being told about it.

I am very pro-telling people about it. More people die from this than should. Whether it be complications or whatever. Everyone should be vaccinated. As someone who experienced it, I can tell you it's not pleasant. I was 17 at the time and I was healthy enough for it not to affect me too bad, but at times it sure felt like I would one day not be able to get that "whoop" of air in. Ugh. It was awful :S

[trillium13 84]

I really have no idea what I've been vaccinated for and what I haven't.

Anyway, is this among the vaccinations that kids usually get? I mean I know I had all the "normal" childhood ones, minus smallpox, because they had stopped doing that one.

I'm even Rabies vaccinated. That and the last Tetanus are the only ones I actually remember getting.

Edited October 19, 2010 by trillium13

[sorchaine 10]

I got the vaccine after I was born and had an extreme allergic reaction to it. What my mother told me recently was that the vaccine is more dangerous to me personally than the whopping cough itself.

[SuperDuper! 230]

do YOUR research and see how many people die each year from pertusis... then do your research and see how many are affected by the vaccine (which my child and i have been)

i wasnt trying to be "right", i was correcting a scare tactic used by vaccine makers... that you were passing on to others. i never said it wouldnt make you sick "if you get it", but pertusis wont "kill" you.

Wow!

[nab 74]

right, it just kills babies and old people. but some of us care about babies and old people dying or getting sick, especially when it can be prevented through vaccination.

the risk of a 6 month old or younger baby dying from pertussis is astronomically huger than any "risk" from the DTaP or TDaP vaccines.

Pertussis is fatal in an estimated one in 100 infants under 6 months (2 months), and fatal in (less than one) one in 200 infants aged 2 to 12 (11) months. Infants under one (6 months) are also more likely to develop complications (eg pneumonia (20%), encephalopathy, seizures (1%), failure to thrive, and death (0.2%)). Pertussis can cause severe paroxysm-induced cerebral hypoxia and apnea (complications, less common, can be caused by hypoxia and apnea, hypoglycemia, and small intracranial hemorrhages). Reported (deaths due to = pertussis and /or secondary complications) fatalities from pertussis in (young) infants have increased substantially over the past 20 years.

http://emedicine.med...967268-followup

thanks for bringing this up vanessa&tony, it's an important issue. one thing to remember, especially for new parents, is that pertussis immunity wears off. so when you get a tetanus booster, you should get a TDap, that has the pertussis component in it, to make you immune to pertussis again. because even though it probably won't kill you, it could kill yours or someone else's newborn, or yours or someone else's grandma or grandpa.

(i find it interesting you put this "quote" in a quote box ... hoping it would not get attributed to you?) my comments in your "quote box" are in brackets ()

your "TDaP" info would hold more validity if you didnt twist the info. while i agree, if it is indicated, people should get vacinated for this and other diseases, please dont twist info to get your point across... you lose your credibility. people should not act out of fear, but rather from knowledge.

below is a real "quote" from the link ... with items in bold/underline for those who would like to fact-check the above "quote".

--------------------

"Complications

Complications of pertussis are usually minimal, and most patients make a gradual full recovery with supportive care and antibiotics.

Infants younger than 6 months with pertussis are more likely to have severe disease, to develop complications, and to require hospitalization. Major complications include pneumonia (20%), encephalopathy, seizures (1%), failure to thrive, and death (0.3%).

Minor complications during the illness include epistaxis, nausea and vomiting, subconjunctival hemorrhages, and ulcers of the frenulum.

Prognosis

Prognosis for full recovery is excellent; however, patients with comorbid conditions as previously described have a higher risk of morbidity and mortality and should be evaluated on an individual basis.

Compared with older children and adults, infants younger than 6 months with pertussis are more likely to have severe disease, to develop complications, and to require hospitalization. From 2001-2003, 69% of infants younger than 6 months with pertussis required hospitalization.2 Pneumonia, either from Bordetella pertussis infection or from secondary infection with other pathogens, is a relatively common complication, occurring in approximately 13% of infants with pertussis.5 CNS complications such as seizures and encephalopathy are less common and are thought to result from severe paroxysm-induced cerebral hypoxia and apnea, metabolic disturbances such as hypoglycemia, and small intracranial hemorrhages. Reported deaths due to pertussis in young infants have increased substantially over the past 20 years.6,7,8 From 1990-1999, the case fatality rate was approximately 1% in infants younger than 2 months and less than 0.5% in infants aged2-11 months.

Leukocytosis, particularly WBC counts of more than 100,000, has been associated with fatalities from pertussis. Another study showed that WBC counts of more than 55, 000 and pertussis complicated by pneumonia were independent predictors of fatal outcome in a multivariate model."

Edited October 19, 2010 by nab

[mahboula 11]

Thanks for the post Vanessa&Tony . I've heard there has been an increasing number of cases reported here in Florida as well.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

.....

Here's the thing, I know it's deadly. You can pontificate all you like but it doesn't change the fact that this warning SHOULD be given.

Please refrain from posting in my topic in future. You are derailing the point which is there has been a WHOOPING COUGH OUTBREAK in Iowa. I was simply WARNING people of the outbreak. Whether you want to admit it or not it IS deadly, complications or not. So again, please refrain from posting.

[sorchaine 10]

I would say that a warning is a good thing. I have a friend who has a 6 month old daughter who has been in and out of the hospital on monitors and breathing tubes since August for pertussis and the apnea. She lives near Des Moines. I haven't heard of anyone else around here getting it, but I'm sure there are others.