Whooping cough epidemic strikes California

I have to say that it angers me to be writing an update about this topic, but I think it is important and deserves considerable attention.  As some of you may have heard, there is an outbreak of whooping cough in California that has led to the death of at least five infants and left over 900-infected.  While these numbers may not seem like a lot on short inspection, they are quite shocking when you consider that we have an effective vaccine to pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. 

So lets take a step back.  What is whooping cough?  Well, generally speaking its a cold like illness that is not terribly problematic in infected adults as it is a bacterial disease and can be controlled with a good round of antibiotics.  The problem arises when very young children become infected with the bacteria.  As young children's immune system and lungs are not fully developed, they are not equipped to handle pertussis, and the disease is much more severe and can be life threatening.  The name "whooping cough" actually derives from the  noise made from young children as they inhale after a long coughing fit.  The noise is quite unsettling and for those of stout constitution, here is a link to the noise that is made.

Now, pertussis has not really been a major health concern the past 50 years due to the vaccine that is given to children starting around 1.5 years old.  While not the best vaccine by far, the number of cases of pertussis related mortality in the US dropped from 10,000 a year, to less than 50 (I'd call that a nice decrease).  So why are all these new cases of pertussis showing up?  Sadly, as mentioned above, parents are not taking their kids to get vaccinated.  A similar phenomenon was observed last year with measles, another disease that we thought was off the radar.  So if you are a parent and reading this, I hope you have had your child vaccinated for pertussis.  If not, I'd encourage to talk to your pediatrician about the vaccine, both its risks and benefits.  Even if your kids are now a bit older, it is worth having a conversation about the vaccine as pertussis is also highly contagious and by vaccinated all your children you can help prevent spread.

Here are some useful links if you would like some more information:

CDC page dedicated to pertussis
Wikipedia article on pertussis and the vaccine