Get smart about whooping cough

If you’re the parent of an infant, the news coming out of Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health these days might be frightening. Since the beginning of the year, three babies have died from pertussis, or whooping cough, with the most recent death disclosed on Tuesday.

In Los Angeles County this year, there already have been 289 possible cases of whooping cough, according to health officials, soaring past last year’s total of 156. Since 2004, more than 80% of whooping cough deaths have been in infants younger than three months.

But the good news is that there’s something you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones. Get vaccinated.

“It’s important for all kids to be up to date and particularly for adults who take care of infants,” said Michelle Parra, director of the Immunization Program for the public health department.  Because infants under the age of six months cannot be vaccinated, she said, they’re particularly vulnerable to whooping cough.

“If one message is to be heard, it’s that young babies who can’t be immunized are in need of protection and that’s why people around them need to be immunized,” Parra said. “We call it the cocooning effect. If you vaccinate everyone around the infant…then essentially you are protecting the infant.”

While the thought of getting a shot is never pleasant, catching whooping cough is much worse. “Your system is so distressed you cough to the point where you are convulsing and vomit,” Parra said.

“If you are an adult or an older person with a cough, you should not be around young babies,” she said. “You should go immediately to get a diagnosis because it might just seem like a regular cough. But if it’s whooping cough it’s a virus that can be very deadly for babies.”

According to Parra, pertussis is a cyclical illness. “It kind of comes in waves. The last peak was in 2005.”

The current outbreak, she said, has a connection of sorts to the rising number of mumps cases in recent months.

“We’re in a period where there’s an increase in parents who are choosing not to vaccinate their children, which leads to higher rates of disease regardless of what disease it is,” Parra said. “There are a lot of parents who have never seen the diseases. They have this perception that the disease doesn’t exist anymore and vaccines are no longer necessary.”

(For information from the county’s Department of Public Health on how to minimize pertussis risks and obtain vaccinations, click here.)

Posted 7/21/10