...for DD to be around someone who may have been exposed to Whooping Cough? She had the vaccinations at 2, 4 and 6 months, and both DH and I also had the immunisation when she was born. Is she fully protected from it?
I don't know the answer to this for you but I do know that children under one are at great risk of dying from whooping cough complications and would guess some of them may have been vaccinated.
I hope it will all be ok for your little one
Whooping cough is one thing that scare me with a little baby.
It is best to err on the side of caution and not have your child in contact with whooping cough,it is still able to be contracted even if a child is vaccinated.
I think prolonged exposure is required to contract WC - 3-4 hours or something? You'd probably want to check that obviously, but as I understand it a breif exposure to someone who might have been exposed is probably ok.
Thanks girls. Think I will give sil a wide berth then as I would be spending pretty much all day with her today. She works in a hospital that had an outbreak and is now on antibiotics just in case. I don't want to risk DD though, it's not worth it.
If there is a credible concern that she may have it, and you are considering an extended period of contact with her, than there is a risk there. Depending on the research, the pertussis vaccine is between 60 and 90% effective, so at best, 1 in 10 babies who are fully immunized may still be vulnerable to catching the disease. People with the disease are contagious from the onset of cold and flu symptoms, until 3 weeks after the cough begins. Although I don't think there is any specific research about the degree of exposure you need to catch it from another person, it tends to spread within households and people who have had close contact for an extended period of time.
If I was in your position, I would consider keeping your baby away from this person. Although, if I was in your friends position, and there was a real concern I might have whooping cough, I would also be excusing myself from major social events.
Thanks for the stats Michael, very helpful. We have decided to keep away from sil, and she has also decided to stay away from our family get together today.
ii remember when my ds1 n ds2 were 1 n 2 i had wc that went undetetcted for 3 months and my ds2 caught it from me even though he was immunised.. its a very hard thing to deal with in children cus as an adult it was horrible and i remember feeling like i was going to cough to death and trying to breathe through the cough fits was incredibly hard so i couldnt even watch my poor son and to know i gave it too him was even worse..
i agree with everyone i would keep her out of the path of it cause its a very hard and srs thing to catch..
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