Melb baby dies of whooping cough...

[~Stoked~]

We've recently had outbreaks of whooping cough in our community and, so far, vaccinated children have been the ones contracting it. Something definately needs to be done about improving the vaccine as I, for one, have no faith in the efficiency of them at all. My son isn't vaccinated, my older daughter is. She has the worst immune system on her and catches every cold and gastro bug going around. So far, my son has only had a runny nose, twice. I can't help but wonder if her weak immune system has something to do with the vaccines. I suppose it's something I'll never know though!

[Pretty Butterfly]

Stoked, my children are exactly the same.. the Vac'd ones catch every damn thing, my 3 unvac, healthy as horses!!!

I hate seeing this poor family like this....

What I hate more, is how bubby prob caught it... you cant catch it by a passer-by breathing on you.. you need very direct contact, with coughing/spitting involved, which is why it runs in families most of the time... someone who has whooping cough had to of breathed/coughed over this little one quite a bit for him/her to of caught it... simply staying away, or being more careful, would go a long way towards these things not happening.....

[Marlene]

you cant catch it by a passer-by breathing on you.. you need very direct contact, with coughing/spitting involved, which is why it runs in families most of the time... someone who has whooping cough had to of breathed/coughed over this little one quite a bit for him/her to of caught it... simply staying away, or being more careful, would go a long way towards these things not happening.....

Actually, my entire family are on AB's at the moment (as a preventative because I only have 5 weeks till bub is due) as a baby at playgroup was diagnosed with whooping cough. When the nurse from the hospital called to advise me to go to my GP she said that because Jack and I were in a room with this baby for more than 1 hour we had to take preventative measures, even though on the day of the playgroup the baby hadn't developed a cough yet. The nurse said that the virus is at it's most contagious even before the cough comes out, when they just have a clear runny nose.
It's pretty scary, because how many people quarantine themselves at home just because they or their child has a clear, runny nose or sniffle? I know I don't. Otherwise I would be on permanent lockdown with my hayfever sniffles!!