Washington state whooping cough outbreak continues

Published on July 13, 2012 by Paul Tinder

Whooping cough

The whooping cough epidemic in Washington state continues to spread after rising to 2,883 reported cases of the disease.

The state has reported more than 2,000 new cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, since an epidemic was declared on April 3. The Department of Health has ordered 14,000 additional doses of vaccine for uninsured adults to go along with 27,000 doses previously sent to local health and tribal partners.

“Infants are most at risk for very serious illness from whooping cough, and many are made sick by an adult who didn’t know they were carrying the illness,” Maxine Hayes, the state’s health officer, said. “All teens and adults should get the Tdap shot. Even people who don’t have close contact with babies can spread the illness to babies when they’re in public.”

Babies under the age of two months are at high risk for serious illness and are too young to receive the vaccination. There have been 173 reported pertussis cases in infants in 2012, with 38 resulting in hospitalization.

Teens and adults require a booster Tdap to ensure they are not spreading the disease to others. In addition, they should stay home when they’re sick, wash their hands often and go to the doctor for a prolonged cough. Adults who are uninsured can contact their local health agency to find out where the vaccine supplied by the state is available.

A vaccination promotion campaign in the state also includes television, billboard, bus and radio ads throughout Washington.

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  • Claudine Torfs

    How many deaths among babies with whooping cough?

  • KennethaScott

     My nieces baby Kaliah died last August here in Washington. Here is more info:The CDC is supposed to be the leading authority in diseases, yet in their latest article, BARELY even mentions the main issue here.
    “Patti says in the email, “We also want to vaccinate everyone else who will be caring for the infant, creating a circle of protection. This includes dads, grandparents, older siblings, nannies, childcare workers, etc.”
    She speaks about how great the statistics are among children, with only a partial sentence dedicated to saying anything about the 92% of adults who are not vaccinated. The Whooping Cough reservoir.
    Again, DOH, CDC and any other “expert” on Pertussis: When the vaccine manufacturer made the vaccine safer in the 1990′s, it also reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine, as well as how long it lasted.
    This information was never shared with the public, so they went along thinking they were still protected if they had that vaccination. The truth is, that since around the year 2000, everyone who had received the vaccine was no longer protected and that is when this great Whooping Cough reservoir began. Add to that the unavailability of a booster shot until the year 2005, and again, not sharing it with the public, only healthcare providers.
    Then in 2010, California has the worst epidemic in recent history, killing 9 babies in the process. Still they say nothing to the rest of the nation about the Tdap, only stressing childhood vaccine and those around babies. That leaves out the population that need the vaccine- teens, adults without children, senior citizens, etc.. Most adults do not know they are not protected. This is the number one cause of these epidemics, yet they still do not say it.
    AGAIN, 90% OF ADULTS NATIONWIDE HAVE NOT HAD THE BOOSTER SHOT BECAUSE
    THEY DO NOT KNOW THIER CHILDHOOD VACCINE HAS WORN OFF! SEND THEM A NOTICE AND
    END THIS PREVENTABLE DISEASE FOREVER!
    Chelsey Charles’ baby Kaliah died here in August of 2011, and still nothing. We went on the radio to tell people about the epidemic and the Department of Health came on after to tell everyone that they had expected it to be a bad year for Pertussis. If that was the case, why didn’t they warn us? Kaliah may still be alive if they had. They still were not going to warn us in April, until we forced their hand by threatening them with bad press.
    They would not call the CDC, the CDC would not come, they spent more money trying to keep us quiet than on actual education and outreach. There was a whole team devoted to making sure we didn’t make waves.
    Millions upon millions of dollars have been spent fighting this disease. If they spent the money to send out a Public Health warning to everyone, it could be over. I did the math and told the vaccine manufacturer that if they would send out a notice, they would stand to make billions in profit. Sounds of Pertussis, a branch of Sanofi Pasteur, has been spending a fortune on this for years now. They could recoup all of that if they sent out a notice that warned their vaccine was not the same as it used to be.

    Please be advised now, that the Tdap vaccine everyone is getting right now is not long lasting either. They say you can only have one dose per lifetime, but it actually only lasts around 5 years as well. So, in 5 years, we are all going to need another booster shot, but who is going to tell us, and when are they going to tell us?
    http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/212267/0/Whooping-Cough-Is-On-Pace-To-Break-Yearly-Record
    Find out more at:
    http://kennethaskorner.weebly.com/kennethas-korner-updates.htmlWe have edited our original Change.org petition to read DOH instead of CDC in the headline, and are using it instead of the newer version as it is the same law and already has nearly 600 signatures. Please send to everyone you know so we can commemorate the 27 days of Kaliah’s life with a real change in the way epidemics are handled in the future. If we would have been warned sooner, Kaliah would still be here. Please share and sign for Chelsey and Kaliah, and all of the other families that have been devastated by a preventable disease! Do not let more epidemics go unreported!

    http://www.change.org/petitions/require-doh-send-notice-to-citizens-in-epidemic-area-kaliah-s-bill

  • KennethaScott

    The CDC is supposed to be the leading authority in diseases, yet in their latest article, BARELY even mentions the main issue here.
    “Patti says in the email, “We also want to vaccinate everyone else who will be caring for the infant, creating a circle of protection. This includes dads, grandparents, older siblings, nannies, childcare workers, etc.”
    She speaks about how great the statistics are among children, with only a partial sentence dedicated to saying anything about the 92% of adults who are not vaccinated. The Whooping Cough reservoir.
    Again, DOH, CDC and any other “expert” on Pertussis: When the vaccine manufacturer made the vaccine safer in the 1990′s, it also reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine, as well as how long it lasted.
    This information was never shared with the public, so they went along thinking they were still protected if they had that vaccination. The truth is, that since around the year 2000, everyone who had received the vaccine was no longer protected and that is when this great Whooping Cough reservoir began. Add to that the unavailability of a booster shot until the year 2005, and again, not sharing it with the public, only healthcare providers.
    Then in 2010, California has the worst epidemic in recent history, killing 9 babies in the process. Still they say nothing to the rest of the nation about the Tdap, only stressing childhood vaccine and those around babies. That leaves out the population that need the vaccine- teens, adults without children, senior citizens, etc.. Most adults do not know they are not protected. This is the number one cause of these epidemics, yet they still do not say it.
    AGAIN, 90% OF ADULTS NATIONWIDE HAVE NOT HAD THE BOOSTER SHOT BECAUSE
    THEY DO NOT KNOW THIER CHILDHOOD VACCINE HAS WORN OFF! SEND THEM A NOTICE AND
    END THIS PREVENTABLE DISEASE FOREVER!
    Chelsey Charles’ baby Kaliah died here in August of 2011, and still nothing. We went on the radio to tell people about the epidemic and the Department of Health came on after to tell everyone that they had expected it to be a bad year for Pertussis. If that was the case, why didn’t they warn us? Kaliah may still be alive if they had. They still were not going to warn us in April, until we forced their hand by threatening them with bad press.
    They would not call the CDC, the CDC would not come, they spent more money trying to keep us quiet than on actual education and outreach. There was a whole team devoted to making sure we didn’t make waves.
    Millions upon millions of dollars have been spent fighting this disease. If they spent the money to send out a Public Health warning to everyone, it could be over. I did the math and told the vaccine manufacturer that if they would send out a notice, they would stand to make billions in profit. Sounds of Pertussis, a branch of Sanofi Pasteur, has been spending a fortune on this for years now. They could recoup all of that if they sent out a notice that warned their vaccine was not the same as it used to be.

    Please be advised now, that the Tdap vaccine everyone is getting right now is not long lasting either. They say you can only have one dose per lifetime, but it actually only lasts around 5 years as well. So, in 5 years, we are all going to need another booster shot, but who is going to tell us, and when are they going to tell us?
    http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/212267/0/Whooping-Cough-Is-On-Pace-To-Break-Yearly-Record
    Find out more at:
    http://kennethaskorner.weebly.com/kennethas-korner-updates.htmlWe have edited our original Change.org petition to read DOH instead of CDC in the headline, and are using it instead of the newer version as it is the same law and already has nearly 600 signatures. Please send to everyone you know so we can commemorate the 27 days of Kaliah’s life with a real change in the way epidemics are handled in the future. If we would have been warned sooner, Kaliah would still be here. Please share and sign for Chelsey and Kaliah, and all of the other families that have been devastated by a preventable disease! Do not let more epidemics go unreported!

    http://www.change.org/petitions/require-doh-send-notice-to-citizens-in-epidemic-area-kaliah-s-bill

  • Bhanuzm

    whole cell dtp vaccines were  better  than
    highly expensive  acellular dtp vaccines ,no outbreaks were reported when wholecell vaccines were used.