Return of... Whooping Cough!!!???

[Jonie]

My 10 yr old is on an All Star Softball team & since 6-19 has been having 3 hour practices every night.

This a.m., the coach calls to inform me & the other moms that a member of the team has been diagnosed w/Whooping Cough!

so, you can imagine the day we had.. calling dr's, getting appts,etc..Plus my 6 yr old has played with the sister of the infected team-mate & this child has it too.

Thankfully, my kids' vaccines are all up to date.. however, immunity does wane w/age... So my dr. prescribed preventative antibiotics ( zithromax f/5 days f/both..)

Now.. we have since found out that apparently this has been traced to a babysitter either from England, or who visited England & sat f/a member of a team.. & 5 girls from that team also have the cough..

The Dept of Health even called my house this p.m. to "interview" me by phone..

A few years ago, a friend's daughter contracted this same disease they think from a basketball camp, she was sick the whole summer *( & yes she had her vaccinations, too) Her mom had told me she had coughed so violently it made her throw up & one time she even passed out. The mom had also had just had a baby who was still too young to even have his 1st shots; he had a mild case & think maybe he received some immunity from mom since he was breastfed.

The doctor said since my girls have no symptoms, they are not contagious (I hope) & the medicine will take care of any bacteria if they do indeed have it in them...

geez,,, anyone else ever encounter this?

[Beth H]

Whooping cough is starting to make a resurgance. The middle school where my MIL teaches (in Indiana) had several cases last year.

I am not sure why - other than the vaccine appears to not be a life-long thing, and some people (particularly in England) are not doing certain vaccines because of the feared link between vaccination and autism. So maybe that's causing a spread?

[mobear]

I thought this was unusual too.

I had whooping cough myself when I was 3 or 4. I also threw up, and it was a very scary experience. I don't know if I ever received a vaccination...my incidence was back in the 70s.

But I just heard that my coworker's two daughters had whooping cough only a few weeks ago. I thought it unusual since I hardly ever hear of anyone getting it anymore. I live in NY...so the spread between NY and PA is very believable. Especially with school just ending and kids travelling more for camp, sports and vacations.

[Jonie]

I just found out more info.
A college aged student from our neighborhood was on a studies abroad program & came home in late May, apparently w/the disease full blown ( picked up from somewhere in Asia.)
She infected her younger sibling on the softball team, who in turn exposed that entire team... of which the infected girl on OUR team then exposed our entire team..

Interestingly enough.. the coach, of the infected sister on the regular season's team, had cancelled all his games f/the rest of his season. This would have been the week of 6-13th, I believe. The family of the girl on our team knew all along her children had been exposed, but still attended every practice for our all star teams from 6-19 on.. even though her children were coughing f/the past 2 weeks.

I don't know this f/fact, but have heard she still wants her daughter to play all stars. I understand she won't be contagious after her antibiotics are completed, but the regimen doesnt cure the disease.. She woudld still be playing w/whooping cough. What if she gets a coughing spell during a game? she would be miserable.

The kicker is one of other team mmembers had strep throat & that mom out of concern f/her daughter & the rest of the team hasn't sent her daughter to practice f/the past 4 days & that is "small potatoes" compared to what we are dealing with now..

My friend who conveyed this info said the CDC also spoke w/her along w/the health dept because HER daughter had a sleepover at the original infected families house on 6 -11 & she was very enraged that the mom didn't even let her know the older daughter had the disease & it was brewing in the younger one

Apparently a booster f/older children/adults is in the works but won't be available f/year or 2...

Also, it must be hard to diagnose, as initially it starts w/2 weeks of cold symptoms, followed by 2 weeks or so of dry cough, followed by up to 4 wks of more of the cough w/the "whoops", vomiting, etc.

Sad that it comes to all this just because of a few irresponsible adults.

[wallycat]

It is rampant here in Wisconsin in many of our counties.
I think it is largely a threat to small babies.
It is annoying but not life threatening in older children or adults as far as I know.

[kbs]

It had never occured to me until this past January when I discovered I had it! I am 29.
I went the ER after a really bad day of breathing which I thought was a really bad asthma attack. I managed it at home using pretty much the same stuff they have at the hospital, but finally gave up and went to the ER. They, of course, were not really able to help me and completely ignored my "this is not like any asthma attack I have ever had" protests and I finally went home. Saw my doctor the next day and she said she thought I had pertussis (whooping cough). My reactions was "really????????"
My dad is pediatrician and he said he was seeing more of it in his office as well. I did some research and it said it often goes undiganosed/misdiagnosed in adults and is perceived as a cold, but that is how it is often transmitted to children.
I felt better after a week and taking the meds my doctor prescribed. I did have a moment of panic though when she said that if we caught it in time the meds would work in 5 days, otherwise there was nothing we could do and I would probably have it for 3 months.
Weird though.

[Blissful_in_TX]

My DS is 2 months old, and a baby his age from another message board recently died from whooping cough. That stinks that the vaccination isn't life long, but I'll bet anything whats also contributing to it is that more and more people are not getting their kids vaccinated b/c of the potential link to autism or other side effects. Not that I want to start up that whole debate (as it comes up often on my baby message board), but it's just alarming how many children aren't being vaccinated at all now by their parent's choice.

[Meganator]

I had whooping cough when I was a baby. Although the vaccine isn't lifelong, do any of you know if someone who actually had the disease is now immune? Or could I contract it again? Not too worried, just curious.

Megan