Whooping Cough Outbreak
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Respiratory medicine
Whooping Cough Outbreak
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The BBC reports today on a Scottish outbreak of Pertussis: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-19267916 We have seen a couple of cases, certainly, which is unusual. Are you seeing more whoopin
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Forums » Open clinical » Respiratory medicine » Whooping Cough Outbreak
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Re: Whooping Cough Outbreak
posted at 17/8/2012 12:33 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 107
First: 13/3/2012 Last: 22/5/2013 |
Whooping cough has been rampant in my area for at least five years. There is much controversy about who is contracting it, how it is spread and the integrity of the whooping cough vaccine. In the early days, the incidence of whooping cough was kept under cover as it was the vaccinated children who were succumbing. While this was happening, the doctors in my area told patients they had a 90 day bronchitis. Discussions were kept hush hush, patients with the symptoms were almost ushered in through the back door so that no one would see or notice them, probably keeping them isolated in case other patients were affected. Strange actions since the children were vaccinated and should have been immune. When, after three years of this secrecy, the government decided to make it public, it was because the unvaccinated were starting to come down with it. And as this is more in keeping with the vaccination protection, it was supposedly the best way to present it as the unvaccinated infecting the vaccinated, which is a pretty tall tale if you believe in vaccination protection. However, the next development in my area at least, was that one doctor had the temerity to question the quality of the vaccination itself. He was immediately howled down, berated, and pretty much humiliated publicly for daring to question the vaccination. The latest on the television reports is that there is now an accepted opinion that the whooping cough vaccination is inferior (substitute your own word, faulty, ineffective, whatever...) and Big Pharma is now bringing out a better one. The report is quick to point out that there is nothing wrong with the first one, even though those vaccinated with it in the latest unproven, unnecessary "coccooning" drive to vaccinate all the people around the children to protect the children, are the ones coming down with whooping cough. The report is a jumble, a mish mash of hopping from one side to the other, trying to say that the whooping cough vaccination was no good, so that's why there is new one out, but there is nothing wrong with the old one even though those vaccinated are coming down with the disease. It was such a rubbish report trying to cover mistakes that it was almost laughable. The problem as I see it lies with doctors who can no longer recognise whooping cough, or have never had to recognise it, in all its mutated presentations. The vaccination changes the presentation and it ends up being called, or labelled as something else. Whooping cough has been around for ages, it's just now that it is actually being identified as whooping cough. Any doctor able to pinpoint the mutated symptoms was on top of this outbreak years ago. About twelve months ago, one of my friends in England came down with all the symptoms of mutated whooping cough. Her doctors treated her with antibiotics for whatever it was that they decided it was and of course, nothing cleared it up. I offered my experience and suggested it was whooping cough. The response was nothing short of rude, arrogant, and totally disrespectful. There was no collegiate conversation about it, even though my experience with the whooping cough was over many years. I would go so far as to say that whooping cough has been in England and Scotland for some time. It is just now that it is being labelled for what it is, not misdiagnosed as so many other things, rather than admit that it is whooping cough in countries where the vaccination is supposed to prevent it. |
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Re: Whooping Cough Outbreak
posted at 3/9/2012 12:04 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1444
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 21/5/2013 |
There appears to now be a Whooping Cough Outbreak, with the HPA saying that 1,047 cases of whooping cough were reported last month (august 2012), bringing the total number of cases so far this year to 3,523. (There were 1,118 cases in the whole of 2011 and 908 in 2008.) Should newborns how be immunised? The HPA and immunisation experts are going to review the matter http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/31/whooping-cough-jabs-newborns-outbreak |
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Re: Whooping Cough Outbreak
posted at 28/9/2012 11:40 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2047
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
All over the news today - there have been 10-12 recent deaths of infants from whooping cough. Awful, awful, in our 21st Century. The solution will be to offer Triple Vaccine to all pregnant women in the last trimester, in the hope (valid?) that they will transfer passive immunity to their babies, to protect them for their first three months until the child gets the Triple themselves. The speaker on Radio4 Today said that despite there being 90%+ immunisation at three months, there had been so little diptheria in the community until recently that there was a large contingent of adults without immunity. I wasn't clear if this was an explanation of mothers not having immunity to pass on, or for there being a pool of infection in the community, that could infect the babies. Anyhow, I see a lot of angst for GPs, dealing with demand and with anxiety about vaccines. John |
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Re: Whooping Cough Outbreak
posted at 28/9/2012 12:04 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1444
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 21/5/2013 |
Hi John I went to the press conference yesterday and have written a news story up for BMJ - soon to be published. It is terrible that whooping cough has made a reappearance and sounds like a very nasty virus. In the pre vaccination days (pre 1960), there were anything from 80,000-160,000 cases of whooping cough being reported per year. Now we are at about 4,700 in 2012. Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation from the HPA said "We have had such good control for such a long time that we haven't had the kind of boosting you might get from natural circulation." The four in one vaccine Repevax is the standard vaccine that has been used for the past decade in UK children as a pre-school booster. Its used as an adult booster in France and Germany and no doubt some of those given it were pregnant women. Interesting to note that Mary Ramsay said that “many other developed countries have experience increased level in incidence including the United States, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and Norway all have high incidence in the last 2 years.” Does this suggest the French and the Germans use of Repevax has prevented such a steep increase in cases? |
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