Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26057198-23289,00.html
Failure to immunise against whooping cough endangers everyone
OPINION: Glenda Korporaal | September 12, 2009
Article from: The Australian
'I CAN'T breathe, Mummy," my 17-year-old daughter gasped, kneeling on the bathroom floor at 3 o'clock one morning.
Just diagnosed with whooping cough, she was alternately gasping for air and vomiting as the bouts of coughing triggered the gagging reflex.
That whooping sound, which gives the infection its name, is that of your child desperately trying to suck in some air amid the violent coughing spasms. Trust me, it's not something you ever want to hear.
We got her back to bed, where the room was warmed with a heater and the bed stacked with a bank of pillows so she could sleep at a raised angle, hopefully to relieve the throat irritation that never seemed to goaway.
Her sternum and ribs hurt so much from coughing she was worried she was having a heart attack. I assured her that she would not die from lack of breath during the night, hoping I was right.
For weeks, there was a bowl permanently next to the bed in case the coughing bouts turned into another round of vomiting. A cold drink or exercise, even just dancing at a party, could suddenly trigger another attack of coughing and then vomiting. Sport was out of the question.
Flu can knock you out for a week or so. But those who get whooping cough, which has resurged in epidemic proportions during the past year, can serve a two to three month sentence of coughing spasms, vomiting and exhaustion. Some people can break ribs from the coughing bouts.
For very young babies, such as four-week-old Dana McCaffery from Lennox Head in northern NSW and two others earlier this year, it can be fatal.
Whooping cough, which is sometimes known as the 100-day cough, is a childhood infection most of us thought had been stamped out years ago, along with polio.
But in the past year 27,000 people across Australia have contracted whooping cough, three times the level of the previous 12months. NSW is responsible for the biggest single outbreak with the number of people with whooping cough going up from a little more than 2000 in 2007 to 8755 in 2008. More than 10,000 cases have already been reported in the eight months to the end of August.
Queensland has reported more than 3000 cases so far this year, four times the level of the previous year. Another 2000 cases have been reported in Victoria so far this year, almost three times the cases reported during the same period last year.
State health ministers in NSW, Victoria and Queensland have tried to draw attention to the issue at various times this year, but the national fear about swine flu has dominated the headlines.
Highly contagious in the first weeks, whooping cough, or pertussis, is one of those "it won't happen to me" afflictions that can easily be prevented by immunisation. Its resurgence in Australia has been blamed by some medical professionals on anti-vaccine scare campaigns, which have discouraged some parents from immunising their children, despite the urging of public health officials.
Northern NSW is one area of particularly low rates of immunisations for children. "In certain areas there is an increase in people not vaccinating their children," says Brian Morton, NSW president of the Australian Medical Association. "They rely on the protection of the immunity of the rest of the community. But, as the number of non-vaccinated children increases, that protection falls away. There is an alarming trend in the increasing number of people who don't believe in vaccination. The anti-vaccine lobby is making assertions that are unscientific and not backed up by evidence."
What many people don't realise is that the vaccination against whooping cough can wear off after about 10 years. Even those children who have been vaccinated in their early years are now recommended to get a booster at about 15.
About half the children who get whooping cough are reported to have got it from a close adult. Doctors are advising parents of young babies to bring forward their immunisations for whooping cough to as early as six weeks of age and for parents, grandparents and carers of babies and young children to get boosters.
The issue was discussed a week ago at a meeting of health ministers in Canberra where there was a call for a national immunisation strategy. Queensland, NSW and Victoria have announced immunisation programs this year against whooping cough, offering a period of free vaccinations. The word needs to get out there.
korporaalg@theaustralian.com.au
Failure to immunise against whooping cough endangers everyone
OPINION: Glenda Korporaal | September 12, 2009
Article from: The Australian
'I CAN'T breathe, Mummy," my 17-year-old daughter gasped, kneeling on the bathroom floor at 3 o'clock one morning.
Just diagnosed with whooping cough, she was alternately gasping for air and vomiting as the bouts of coughing triggered the gagging reflex.
That whooping sound, which gives the infection its name, is that of your child desperately trying to suck in some air amid the violent coughing spasms. Trust me, it's not something you ever want to hear.
We got her back to bed, where the room was warmed with a heater and the bed stacked with a bank of pillows so she could sleep at a raised angle, hopefully to relieve the throat irritation that never seemed to goaway.
Her sternum and ribs hurt so much from coughing she was worried she was having a heart attack. I assured her that she would not die from lack of breath during the night, hoping I was right.
For weeks, there was a bowl permanently next to the bed in case the coughing bouts turned into another round of vomiting. A cold drink or exercise, even just dancing at a party, could suddenly trigger another attack of coughing and then vomiting. Sport was out of the question.
Flu can knock you out for a week or so. But those who get whooping cough, which has resurged in epidemic proportions during the past year, can serve a two to three month sentence of coughing spasms, vomiting and exhaustion. Some people can break ribs from the coughing bouts.
For very young babies, such as four-week-old Dana McCaffery from Lennox Head in northern NSW and two others earlier this year, it can be fatal.
Whooping cough, which is sometimes known as the 100-day cough, is a childhood infection most of us thought had been stamped out years ago, along with polio.
But in the past year 27,000 people across Australia have contracted whooping cough, three times the level of the previous 12months. NSW is responsible for the biggest single outbreak with the number of people with whooping cough going up from a little more than 2000 in 2007 to 8755 in 2008. More than 10,000 cases have already been reported in the eight months to the end of August.
Queensland has reported more than 3000 cases so far this year, four times the level of the previous year. Another 2000 cases have been reported in Victoria so far this year, almost three times the cases reported during the same period last year.
State health ministers in NSW, Victoria and Queensland have tried to draw attention to the issue at various times this year, but the national fear about swine flu has dominated the headlines.
Highly contagious in the first weeks, whooping cough, or pertussis, is one of those "it won't happen to me" afflictions that can easily be prevented by immunisation. Its resurgence in Australia has been blamed by some medical professionals on anti-vaccine scare campaigns, which have discouraged some parents from immunising their children, despite the urging of public health officials.
Northern NSW is one area of particularly low rates of immunisations for children. "In certain areas there is an increase in people not vaccinating their children," says Brian Morton, NSW president of the Australian Medical Association. "They rely on the protection of the immunity of the rest of the community. But, as the number of non-vaccinated children increases, that protection falls away. There is an alarming trend in the increasing number of people who don't believe in vaccination. The anti-vaccine lobby is making assertions that are unscientific and not backed up by evidence."
What many people don't realise is that the vaccination against whooping cough can wear off after about 10 years. Even those children who have been vaccinated in their early years are now recommended to get a booster at about 15.
About half the children who get whooping cough are reported to have got it from a close adult. Doctors are advising parents of young babies to bring forward their immunisations for whooping cough to as early as six weeks of age and for parents, grandparents and carers of babies and young children to get boosters.
The issue was discussed a week ago at a meeting of health ministers in Canberra where there was a call for a national immunisation strategy. Queensland, NSW and Victoria have announced immunisation programs this year against whooping cough, offering a period of free vaccinations. The word needs to get out there.
korporaalg@theaustralian.com.au