Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090114/NEWS/901140351/1002/newsfront
Hunterdon health department monitors continuing whooping cough outbreak
FLEMINGTON ?The county's whooping cough outbreak continues, and the health department is watching it carefully.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, has struck as many as a dozen Hunterdon County children in Clinton Town, the Three Bridges section of Readington, Union and Delaware townships, and possibly Franklin Township. Clinton Public School has seen the majority of cases, but Superintendent John Alfieri and Nurse Mary Ellen Bowlby are referring all questions about it to the Hunterdon County Department of Health, which continues investigating the outbreak and its cause.
Karen Alelis, department epidemiologist, said the initial source of the outbreak remains unknown because the disease's long incubation period makes it difficult to pinpoint until it's finished.
"The time between being infected by pertussis and the time to show symptoms can be as short as five days and as long as 21," said department Director John Beckley. "We're still in the process of seeking out new cases, but we do look forward to the time we go three weeks without hearing about new cases. At that point we close the books, when it has run its course."
VACCINE STRENGTH
Beckley said that in this particular outbreak, all of the children identified as infected had received all of their childhood vaccinations.
"Some childhood vaccines wane in their effectiveness over a period of years," Beckley said. "That's why there's a fairly new requirement in New Jersey that children 10 years old going into grade six have to get a pertussis booster."
He said the affected children were caught in a gap between the original vaccine wearing off, going for a booster shot, and then being exposed to an active whooping-cough infection.
"It's important to realize that when the school nurse began to review the school's records, she did find less than 10 kids that had some sort of exemption from childhood vaccinations," Beckley said.
The parents of those children were immediately notified to get their children a preventative treatment or remove their children from school until the outbreak ran its course.
SYMPTOMS WATCH
Beckley said that any child who had childhood vaccinations but started to show symptoms after close contact with an active case would receive a required course of antibiotics for five days. Close contact is described as sharing food, spending a great deal of time together, but not just being in the same class with an infected child, Beckley said. Household members would be considered close contact.
Beckley said pertussis moves from one susceptible person to another through talking, coughing or sneezing. The illness starts with cold symptoms and a cough, progressively worsens for a week or two, and may last for months, officials said.
Symptoms can include a long series of coughing fits that may be followed by whooping noises, vomiting, turning blue or difficulty catching one's breath, the department indicated.
Up to 30 percent of people with the infection require hospitalization, and most of them are infants younger than 6 months old, officials said. Pertussis can infect anyone. Serious complications, including pneumonia, can result among all age groups due to pertussis infection, although deaths related to pertussis are rare, officials said.
"All the kids that were confirmed cases are doing fine and some are already back in school" Beckley said. "But even those treated will have to get the booster again when they turn 10."
Walter O'Brien: 908-707-3163; wobrien@MyCentralJersey.com
Hunterdon health department monitors continuing whooping cough outbreak
FLEMINGTON ?The county's whooping cough outbreak continues, and the health department is watching it carefully.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, has struck as many as a dozen Hunterdon County children in Clinton Town, the Three Bridges section of Readington, Union and Delaware townships, and possibly Franklin Township. Clinton Public School has seen the majority of cases, but Superintendent John Alfieri and Nurse Mary Ellen Bowlby are referring all questions about it to the Hunterdon County Department of Health, which continues investigating the outbreak and its cause.
Karen Alelis, department epidemiologist, said the initial source of the outbreak remains unknown because the disease's long incubation period makes it difficult to pinpoint until it's finished.
"The time between being infected by pertussis and the time to show symptoms can be as short as five days and as long as 21," said department Director John Beckley. "We're still in the process of seeking out new cases, but we do look forward to the time we go three weeks without hearing about new cases. At that point we close the books, when it has run its course."
VACCINE STRENGTH
Beckley said that in this particular outbreak, all of the children identified as infected had received all of their childhood vaccinations.
"Some childhood vaccines wane in their effectiveness over a period of years," Beckley said. "That's why there's a fairly new requirement in New Jersey that children 10 years old going into grade six have to get a pertussis booster."
He said the affected children were caught in a gap between the original vaccine wearing off, going for a booster shot, and then being exposed to an active whooping-cough infection.
"It's important to realize that when the school nurse began to review the school's records, she did find less than 10 kids that had some sort of exemption from childhood vaccinations," Beckley said.
The parents of those children were immediately notified to get their children a preventative treatment or remove their children from school until the outbreak ran its course.
SYMPTOMS WATCH
Beckley said that any child who had childhood vaccinations but started to show symptoms after close contact with an active case would receive a required course of antibiotics for five days. Close contact is described as sharing food, spending a great deal of time together, but not just being in the same class with an infected child, Beckley said. Household members would be considered close contact.
Beckley said pertussis moves from one susceptible person to another through talking, coughing or sneezing. The illness starts with cold symptoms and a cough, progressively worsens for a week or two, and may last for months, officials said.
Symptoms can include a long series of coughing fits that may be followed by whooping noises, vomiting, turning blue or difficulty catching one's breath, the department indicated.
Up to 30 percent of people with the infection require hospitalization, and most of them are infants younger than 6 months old, officials said. Pertussis can infect anyone. Serious complications, including pneumonia, can result among all age groups due to pertussis infection, although deaths related to pertussis are rare, officials said.
"All the kids that were confirmed cases are doing fine and some are already back in school" Beckley said. "But even those treated will have to get the booster again when they turn 10."
Walter O'Brien: 908-707-3163; wobrien@MyCentralJersey.com