Vent - I'm so angry :-(

[Traveller]

I've heard that a lot of kids are getting whooping cough now because of a combination of adults not getting boosters since childhood, and the new whooping cough vaccination being not very effective so a lot of vaccinated kids still are susceptible. Not sure how true that is but it's in my head as the reason for the upsurge in new cases in children. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can confirm or deny this?

ETA there are outbreaks of whooping cough around the country at the moment, with articles on ABC and various newspapers reflecting this, so it's not just you being unlucky. Here is one example of a media report on the situation http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...d/2205683.aspx

The ACT remains in the grip of a whooping cough epidemic.
Yesterday, Chief Minister and Health Minister Katy Gallagher announced that a whooping cough vaccination program for parents and grandparents of new babies would be extended until December 31 this year.

The highly contagious respiratory illness characterised by a persistent cough can be life-threatening for children under six months.

''I encourage parents of children aged less than 12 months, and grandparents where they are in regular contact with these children, to ensure their immunisation is up to date to protect young infants too young to be immunised themselves,'' Ms Gallagher said.

According to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, there have been 522 pertussis (whooping cough) cases reported in the ACT so far this year.

The number of month-by-month notifications has declined from the recent peak of 205 cases in November 2010 to 83 cases in May 2011. However, reported whooping cough cases are still higher than in previous years. ''A similar increase has been observed nationally, with a 15per cent increase in notification in 2010 compared with 2009,'' Ms Gallagher said.

ACT chief health officer Dr Paul Kelly said that targeted adult vaccinations were part of a cocoon strategy. ''We can't immunise the kids until six months,'' he said.

The exact reason for the increase in whooping cough cases is not known. ''I just think there's more of it around,'' Dr Kelly said.

He suggested that doctors were also getting better at diagnosing cases.

The test for whooping cough has become easier and several alerts have been sent to GPs.

ACT Division of General Practice president Rashmi Sharma welcomed the vaccination extension and said doctors were seeing whooping cough cases every day.

''We do need to keep immunising people who will be in contact with young children,'' she said.

Dr Sharma said whooping cough could be a ''tricky one'' to diagnose. The cough did not develop immediately and adults did not necessarily present with classical symptoms.

The ACT Government launched the adult whooping cough vaccination program in April 2009. Since the program began, the Health Protection Service has distributed 23,717 doses of vaccine at a cost of $630,000.

The Immunise Australia Program says babies should be vaccinated against whooping cough at two, four and six months, with boosters at four years and 15 to 17 years.

[RainbowBrite]

I've heard that a lot of kids are getting whooping cough now because of a combination of adults not getting boosters since childhood, and the new whooping cough vaccination being not very effective so a lot of vaccinated kids still are susceptible. Not sure how true that is but it's in my head as the reason for the upsurge in new cases in children. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can confirm or deny this?

I was in the childrens hospital yesterday and they were giving all the staff...volunteer or paid a free pertussis booster to try and create some heard immunity among the adults because adults can be unaware what they have is whopping cough and can pass it on to children.