Virginia whooping cough

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From Virginia sources....

Tami

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Check out the last full paragraph's last sentence.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/archive/MGBX2KUTNSC.html

Whooping cough keeps 450 absent

BY CARLOS SANTOS

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Oct

11, 2001

MADISON - About 450 students were still absent yesterday from

Madison and Orange County schools

because of a minor outbreak of whooping cough, a contagious

respiratory illness that has cropped up

recently in both counties.

" I think people are very skittish, " said Benner, the

assistant superintendent for Orange County

schools. " But we think there are kids out that need to be

back in school. "

A total of 400 students were sent home Tuesday from Orange

schools because of the whooping cough

scare. About 350 students were absent yesterday.

Benner said only two cases of whooping cough have been

confirmed in the school system - one a student

and the other a teacher.

J. Baker, superintendent of the Orange school system,

sent a letter to parents yesterday asking them

to send their children back to school.

" The Virginia Department of Health has assured us that the

majority of those sent home should return to

school and do not present a health risk to them- selves or

others, " Baker said. " The only people that require

continued exclusion are those with symptoms of whooping cough

or those who have been in contact with a

confirmed whooping cough case and refuse to take the

recommended medication. "

Benner said students " who don't have symptoms and were not in

direct contact with those who have

whooping cough should come back to school. "

In the Madison County school system, where three cases of

whooping cough were reported, about 100

students were absent yesterday.

" A number of people were sent home because they had contact, "

said Marc Carraway, the principal of

Madison County High School. " A number of people were told to

stay home . . . but we've not had any new

confirmed cases. "

Schmitz, the nursing supervisor for the Madison County

health department and acting nursing

supervisor for Orange County, said eight cases of whooping

cough have been confirmed in Madison.

" It's a pretty ubiquitous bacteria. It crops up once in a

while, " she said.

Schmitz said health workers have been checking health records

at schools, day-care facilities and

preschools in Madison and Orange, to ensure that young

children have been inoculated. Schmitz said the

majority of children were found to have been inoculated

against the disease.

The health department is also checking for whooping cough in

Culpeper County.

There have been a total of 36 cases of the disease reported

in the state so far this year, according to the

state health department. Nine of those were reported in

Albemarle County.

Last year, the state had 134 cases of whooping cough, which

is marked by coughing and sneezing. As

many as 6,000 cases are reported each year in the United

States. Antibiotics are used to treat the

infection, which is rarely fatal.

" It will blow over, " said Schmitz. " We just don't know when. "

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http://www.timesdispatch.com/health/MGBHXO8P7TC.html

A comeback for whooping cough

Resurgence highlights need for booster shots

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oct

25, 2001

WASHINGTON Whooping cough is one of those diseases most

people think is history - but the dangerous

germ that can leave sufferers gasping for air is making a

comeback.

The cough so strong it can break a rib once hit mostly babies

and toddlers, but now it's striking more and

more teen-agers and young adults. Apparently the whooping

cough vaccinations Americans get as babies

eventually can wear off.

Here's the real risk: While older people usually recover,

they can easily spread the illness to infants too

young for vaccinations. Whooping cough can kill babies.

So experts warn new parents to keep infants away from anyone

who's coughing, even as scientists study

whether millions of Americans should start getting booster

doses of whooping cough vaccine just as many

get regular tetanus shots.

The goal is to develop boosters for older children and adults

so there's " a wall of protection around the

newborn baby, " explains Dr. Decker, a Vanderbilt

University professor who has studied whooping

cough, also called pertussis, for 20 years.

He just joined vaccine manufacturer Aventis Pasteur, which is

working to bring a booster shot sold in

Canada to this country.

Pertussis is a bacterial infection that at first seems like a

cold: a runny nose and hacking cough, first at

night and then during the day. Coughing fits begin a week or

two later, up to 15 coughs in a row followed by

a high-pitched " whoop " as patients gasp for air.

Infants are more likely to turn bluish than whoop as they run

out of air. They can get pneumonia and

become dehydrated and malnourished.

For teens or adults, the severe coughing can cause vomiting

or a hernia, even break a rib.

Often, though, older patients have a milder illness, just a

nagging cough. So they don't see a doctor, or it's

misdiagnosed as bronchitis, because pertussis t esting is

very difficult. Indeed, a Vanderbilt study found

about one-fourth of teens and adults with prolonged coughs

unknowingly have pertussis. It's most

contagious during the first three weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 56,775

whooping cough cases during the 1990s, a

51 percent increase from the 1980s - and a rise that's

continuing.

Last year, the CDC had reports of more than 7,000 cases, and

" we suspect there may be 10 times that

amount " because of underdiagnosis in teens and young adults,

Dr. Kris Bisgard, a CDC epidemiologist,

said.

That's still a far cry from the 250,000 Americans who once

got pertussis annually before vaccinations began

in the 1940s. But it's far worse than 1980, when there were

only about 1,000 cases.

The biggest rise: CDC figures show for every 1 million 10- to

19-year-olds, three got pertussis in 1980 vs. 70

cases per million in that age group last year.

Americans get their final dose of pertussis vaccine by age 6.

Studies show that giving one-third of the youngster's dose to

teens and adults boosts their immunity nicely,

CDC's Bisgard said. Canadians already can get such a booster

dose.

Americans can get booster doses of tetanus and diphtheria

vaccine every 10 years. (You call it a tetanus

shot, but the two almost always come together.) The idea:

Just add a pertussis booster to that shot. After

all, babies today get diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis

vaccine in the same shot, called DTaP.

Aventis and a competitor, GlaxoKline, are studying

boosters, Bisgard says, and experts expect one

will hit the market in about two years.

For now, what's the advice?

Keep infants away from people who have any cough illness,

Bisgard said - and make sure they're

vaccinated on time. DTaP doses are given at ages 2, 4 and 6

months, again at 15 to 18 months and a final

dose between 4 and 6 years.

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