Whooping Cough!!!!

[Little Chicken]

I also read on one of the pages they don't have to be coughing to be contagious, I'll see if I can find it again.

ETA: Basically the info said that you can be infectious from the first sneeze (it can start with cold like symptoms), up to 21 days from the first cough or to day 5 of a ten day course of antibiotics.

[Marlene]

Yep, I had heard that. Oh man, this really sucks!!!

[~clover~]

Bugger! You don't have a HCC?
Hope it works out!

[LizLemon]

I would be asking the health service if they are willing to provide the antibiotics free of charge. I can't understand why you should be hit with the bill!

This is why I am hesitant to go to play group at the moment while pregnant and when current bubba is born. All of the mums at mine have the attitude "oh it's just a runny nose it's good for everyone's immunity", and I keep saying "but a runny nose is how whooping cough starts!"

Fingers crossed for you that you are ok.

[JennaJayen]

Hubby got whooping cough when I was 16wks preg and we all immediately went on antibiotics as a 'Just in case' measure.
The problem with whooping cough though is that it can come back anywhere from 2-6 months AFTER it finally goes away.
The doctor should do swabs to check for whooping cough and blood tests to check your immunity on you and the kids just in case, especially since it's less than 8 weeks now until you're due and it generally sticks around for 6-8weeks or so when you do have it.
If you are all given the all clear, then everything should be right and bub won't have any problems.
If you or one of the kids do have it though then bub will have to be given a course of antibiotics right after birth - at least that was what I was told by the doctor and what I googled when hubby was diagnosed with it.
FXed everything is all good though!

[Yeddi]

Sorry, but how do you know they weren't immunised? Did the health service tell you that (which would be a major breech of medical confidentiality) or is it just your assumption?

[Eenee]

Sorry, but how do you know they weren't immunised? Did the health service tell you that (which would be a major breech of medical confidentiality) or is it just your assumption?

yeah and also (not meaning to be rude because the situation you are in does suck) it shouldn't matter if they weren't immunised it was there choice plus immunised people can still get whooping cough so really the issue that they weren't immunised can't really be brought in.

[Yeddi]

Yes, it could be very uncomfortable if you go back to playgroup and say something based on that assumption and they are actually immunised. The new whooping vaccine is said to be only 30% effective as it misses two of the main strains. 70% of the 30,000 cases of whooping cough that occurred last year were in people who were immunised, of the 30% who weren't, most of them were adults. So it can be a dangerous assumption to think that just because some is vaccinated they can't get it and only people who are unvaccinated do.

If on the other hand, the health service told you that they were unvaccinated, that is an incredible breach of ethics, as they should be medical in confidence. It's one thing to inform you of an outbreak, it's quite another to give specific details of someone's medical past.

[Danielle_NZ]

Go get tested at your local GP, my family were all tested for it last week, thankfully the tests were negative so no need for antibotics.

The test is rather uncomfortable but worth finding out if your carrying it (swab up the nose)

[*TripleJ*]

we had a case of it at the day care centre one of the carers had a suspected case and i was freaking out but neither of my kids had any symptoms but i was really annoyed at them coz i'd just taken my 2 week old baby to drop off DS and they didnt get told for 2 weeks after that so even if she got it i wouldnt have even been able to help her she would have been hospitalised