Whooping cough vaccine help?

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

Would appreciate help from anyone who knows about the whooping cough

vaccine...

Have been thinking a lot about this recently (haven't we all!) - I initially

refused the DPT vaccination for Lee because of several studies showing

possible increased risk of asthma in children who'd had the pertussis

vaccination. There is asthma on both sides of the family, and given that

asthma can be a killer of children and adults, I have been very worried

about anything which might increase chances of it. I know that having

whooping cough can also trigger asthma, but at the time felt that it was a

risk worth taking. So Lee just had the single Tetanus jab when he started

getting mobile - since diptheria is extinct in the UK I thought I would not

have that one done unless we were going to visit a country where it was a

risk.

Well, despite no pertussis jabs, and exclusive breastfeeding for 5 months,

continued breastfeeding for years, Lee still developed asthma in his first

year (or at least, severe wheezing when he gets a cold, which is not

necessarily the same thing - but anyway, it is treated as asthma). He is

fine in between colds, but goes downhill rapidly in the first day or two of

a cold. Interestingly, when he had flu, he did not get wheezy - it seems to

be only colds which trigger it off.

Anyway, after wrote about her friend's son, Ashe, who was asthmatic

and died from whooping cough, I realised that Lee is probably at increased

risk should he ever contract it - because as well as the disease itself,

there is the risk that he will have an asthma attack at the same time. Not

a nice prospect. And then Sue H wrote about her experiences with whooping

cough, and explained that most cases will not 'whoop'. This suggests to me

that most cases will therefore go undiagnosed, at least in adults - people

will presumably just think they have a bad cough. This also makes me lean

towards immunisation for the disease because it's hard to quantify the risk

you're taking in refusing it. It's easier with diseases which are easily

diagnosed, as you can find out how common they are in your area and make an

informed decision on that basis - but whooping cough could be all around my

child and I might never know. So, both these factors are inclining me to

perhaps get my children vaccinated. After all, since Lee is wheezy anyway,

my primary reason for avoiding that specific immunisation seems irrelevant.

On the other hand, is 8 months, has had no jabs at all, and is

extremely healthy - never had antibiotics etc.. (neither has Lee), so he

perhaps would have more of a risk from the jab.

On to the questions: a microbiologist pal of mine says she thinks that the

immunity conferred by the pertussis immunisations used in the UK only lasts

for around three years. She said this is a true case of waning immunity

being 'topped up' by boosters, and not like the MMR booster which aims to

cover people who did not 'take' first time around. She said that if the

child has the pre-school booster then they would be expected to remain

immune for two or three years after that, but probably not beyond.

Unfortunately she didn't have any sources to hand, although she is generally

very well-informed and is an immune specialist - but her field is cholera,

not whooping cough! I have been unable to find any info to confirm or

refute this, and wonder if anyone here can help? The Department of Health's

website has a page on the jab and it says that there is no vaccination

available in the UK for people over 7 years old, but it does not give any

details about how long vaccine immunity might last for. It is often

suggested that whooping cough is not serious for adults (although from what

Sue described, it sounds like a right pain in the arse), and that it is most

serious for babies under one year old. So at what age would one no longer

bother to immunise a child, if he had not previously been immunised? At 3,

is Lee beyond most of the risk, or would his wheeze put him in a higher-risk

group? And if asthmatics really are higher-risk, why are they left

unprotected at 7 years and older? Also, the pertussis jab is known to have

quite a high failure rate - I've seen figures between 30% and 10%, and in

fact one of my little sisters had whooping cough despite having had the jab.

This is a bit of a pain as, once you've done your agonising over

vaccinations, if you choose to have one then it would be nice to think that

it would actually *work*.

I know that the Pertussis vaccine, in both whole-cell and acellular forms,

is known to be one with a higher risk of side-effects. To be honest, my

concerns about all vaccines have never been so much with the 1 in 1,000 who

has a serious reaction to the jab, but more worries about long-term

deleterious effects on the immune system, and risks of asthma and other

allergies. If anyone could recommend good sources of information on the

pertussis jab, I'd appreciate it. I have 'The Vaccination Bible' from 'what

doctors don't tell you' , but generally they seem to be selective in the

research they take on board... not hugely objective, but then neither is

most mainstream information either.

Waaaahhhh... sorry to bombard you all with so many questions, but

unfortunately whenever I have asked my GP any questions about immunisation

in the past, she just shrugs her shoulders and says " We just do what the

government tells us " !

Thanks for reading this far!

H.

Horn

Homebirth Reference Site

www.homebirth.org.uk

[Guest guest]

> Since my 30's I have very

> occasional bouts of being tightchested which I treat with a puff of

DD1's

> inhaler.

Asthma is very common down here although pollen counts seem to be very

low during the summer.

Winter apparently is the worst time for asthmatics in Australia

although the bush fire a few weeks ago which led to Melbourne being

enveloped in smog didn't help too much.

Puffers are available without prescription from the pharmacy.

--

Sue

Oz