Whooping Cough is making headlines again – with more than 18,000 cases in the U.S. and 600 cases so far this year in AZ. You might wonder why we continue to have lots of whooping cough cases in the US and AZ when the other vaccine preventable diseases are real rare (e.g. measles, mumps etc.).
Creating a vaccine for whooping cough is different than a vaccine for measles. Whooping cough is a bacteria and measles is a virus – and that’s a big difference when it comes to making a vaccine that lasts. That’s partly because virus generally have a pretty specific and predictable protein coat on their surface that makes it easier to create a vaccine that generates antibodies specific to the virus coat- like a lock and key. Bacteria, on the other hand, are much larger and pose a bigger challenge when making a vaccine because the cell wall is way more complicated than a simple virus protein coat. As a result- vaccines against viruses are generally more protective and last longer. Likewise, when you get sick from whooping cough you’ll have temporary natural immunity- but you can still get it again (unlike some viruses such as measles).
Anyway- it’s important to keep up the battle against whooping cough because of the danger it poses to babies. We had one baby die earlier this year in Arizona. Babies are just too young to fight the disease – they don’t have the immunity and they don’t have the ability to cough like children and adults do. So it’s important for us to make sure that everyone around them has been vaccinated. I talked about the importance of “cocooning” and our cocooning intervention strategies last summer in my Whooping it Up blog post.
The diffrence you are pointing out here made me to realize how bacterias are much harder to deal with, espcially when vaccines are holding the secret to prevent from them. The diminishing chances for this prevention made me not to rely on vaccines in cases of bacterias, but only during viral diseases.
After reading a story in the Arizona Republic about a pertussis epidemic in Maricopa County, I tried to get the TDap shot. I went to the Safeway pharmacy and was told that my insurance (UnitedHealthcare) didn’t cover it and that I would have to pay $59.99. I decided to shop around. The Mollen Clinic website stated that the TDap shot would be covered by UHC effective September 1, 2012. I went to their clinic at the AJ’s at 44th Street and Camelback Road on that date and was told that they didn’t have the pertussis vaccine there and that I would have to go to the clinic at the Wal Mart at 38th Street and Thomas Road to get it and that even with my insurance I would still have to pay $63 for the shot. It seemed quite absurd to me that it would cost more with insurance than without, but I went to the Wal Mart Mollen Clinic anyway.
When I got there I was told that they had the vaccine and that it was covered, and $63 wasn’t mentioned, but the lady said I had to give out my credit card information to get the shot. That also sounded absurd and fraudulent, so I left.
When I got home I went to the Walgreen’s website, and they said they had the vaccine and that “most insurance plans” covered it. I went there and was told that my insurance covered it but that I would have to pay $63 up front and that the insurance company would reimburse me later. Again, I suspected fraud and left.
What is it with all the deception by the providers and the insurance companies? They are being penny-wise and pound foolish. We’ll never get the herd immunity we need to stop pertussis if it’s this expensive and difficult to get our booster shots. Dr. Humble, I urge you to use the legal power and prestige of your office to put a stop to this. Make TDap convenient and affordable!
Kevin Walsh,
You bring up a great point and we are working to make it easier. Since the vaccination is relatively new, many physicians’ offices don’t carry it and pharmacies are not set up to bill for vaccinations. The Arizona Partnership for Immunization has put together a tip sheet to help people find vaccinations, but we are still brainstorming to make it easier for people like you. Thank you for working through so many options.
The Pertussis Vaccine can cause seizures in infants and children as well as permanent brain damage and/or death. The seizures can still continue even if you choose to stop having your child vaccinated for Pertussis. I had taken a free pamphlet at an outside services health care building accross the street from FMC that was about Vaccines: What You Need To Know. Well, I wish I would have known that a little sooner, I just have to live with the worry that the vaccine may have damaged my child. Now, In this article it was stated that 1 infant had died from having the Whooping Cough. How many infants have died that have received the vaccine for Whooping Cough compaired to the one’s that have received the vaccine? I hadn’t even heard of the Whooping Cough until I looked at that pamplet. Nor did I ever hear of something like that being a problem when I was a child. Where did the Whooping Cough come from and when did it become a realization that it existed? This article isn’t very imformative on the facts about Whooping Cough or the Pertussis Vaccine. Usually for a bacteria an anti-biotic is given and for a virus before a person is infected a vaccine is given. When a person has a virus no anti-biotics can be given, nothing to destroy the virus; BUT Whooping Cough isn’t a virus….so why can’t something be given to destroy the Whooping Cough when someone is already infected instead of taking all these horrible risks trying to prevent it. Why isn’t there just an anti-biotic? Why isn’t there also a list of things that can be done to lower ones’ risk of gettng the Whooping Cough instead of just get a vaccine. Are there no other precautionary measures? Also, how to know if your infant is having a seizure, even a mild one? Is there a way to find out if your infant has had a sezure before but you just didn’t know it?
My Suggestion:
THINK 1ST, LEARN ALL THE FACTS BEFORE YOU GIVE YOUR CHILD ANYTHING.
Even if recommended by a doctor or nurse, if they can’t tell you all the information you need to know, research it your self, but quickly. The side effects are SERIOUS.
Tracy,
Whooping cough (also called pertussis) is an illness caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. Before vaccines, it was one of the major causes of deaths in infants in the United States. Even today, throughout the world there are about 200,000 deaths a year from whooping cough.
Fortunately, a pertussis vaccine was developed in the 1930s, and started being used in the United States in the late 1940s. It was made from the bacteria that had been killed, so was called a whole cell pertussis vaccine. In 1950 in the United States, there were 120,718 reported cases of pertussis and 1,118 deaths from pertussis. The use of whole cell pertussis vaccines dramatically reduced the pertussis cases to the point that by 1976 there were only 1,010 reported cases of pertussis and 7 deaths from pertussis in the US.
A common side effect from the whole cell pertussis vaccines was fever, and local redness, swelling, and tenderness at the injection site. Sometimes there would be seizures along with the fever. A very few number of infants would continue to have seizures and would not develop normally. Many parents and some doctors blamed the rare long term problem with seizures on the pertussis vaccine.
Recently, doctors who were caring for people with a diagnosis of brain damage after whole cell whooping cough vaccine realized that their patients’ symptoms were very similar to a newly discovered genetic disease called Dravet’s Syndrome. They tested their patients who supposedly had brain damage from pertussis vaccine, and found that all of them had the genetic abnormality of Dravet’s Syndrome. Therefore, it appears that Dravet’s Syndrome was the cause of their illnesses, and not a reaction to the whole cell pertussis vaccine. However, some people still remember the claims that the whole cell pertussis vaccines were not safe.
Because of advancements in technology, more purified forms of pertussis vaccines were developed in the 1970s. They are called acellular pertussis vaccines. They are much less likely to cause fever, seizures, and injection site reactions. These acellular pertussis vaccines have been licensed for use in the United States since the 1990s.
These acellular pertussis vaccines are very safe, but they may not protect as long as the whole cell pertussis vaccines. Over the last decade in the United States, reported cases of pertussis have been climbing. In 2012, there were 41,880 reported cases of pertussis and 18 deaths. Even though the protection from acellular pertussis vaccines may not last as long as the protection from whole cell vaccines, they still help to protect infants and the rest of us from a very serious and life-threatening disease.
There is an antibiotic that can help treat whooping cough if it is diagnosed early. However, whooping cough can be hard to diagnose in the early stages. People with whooping cough who get antibiotics often continue with a severe cough for many weeks.
Infants are the most likely to die from whooping cough. Their vaccines do not give them good protection until after about 6 months of age. In the United States, about 2/3 of infants with whooping cough have to be hospitalized, and about 1% die from the disease.
Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccines are very safe. They protect the individual. They prevent pertussis from spreading throughout the community. They protect infants from dying from pertussis.
Remember, infections are bad. Vaccines are good.