“Infants younger than 6 months account for 90 percent of all pertussis-related deaths and the majority of hospitalizations,” reads the Seattle & King County Public Health brief on whooping cough (pertussis). That statistic came into stark relief last Thursday, when a newborn baby died from a cases of pertussis. KOMO News says further details are being withheld to guard the family’s privacy.
The county details the effects of the rise in whooping cough cases the past two years:
The risk of severe pertussis, including hospitalization and death, is higher for infants than any other age group, and two infant deaths occurred in Washington during 2011. King County pertussis cases increased significantly in 2011 compared to 2010 (97 and 59, respectively), with infants younger than one year comprising 16 percent of the 97 reported cases. In 2011, 20 percent of infant cases required hospitalization and infant cases continue to occur in 2012.
As of December 8, 2012, King County had had 726 cases of whooping cough, the second-most in Washington, following Pierce County’s 736. (In terms of incidence rate, Skagit, Yakima, and Whatcom counties have been hardest hit — King County’s cases are spread out among its almost two million residents.)
King County health officials say it isn’t enough to keep babies away from coughing strangers — too many cases are contracted from the mother or family members. Vaccination is highly recommended for anyone who will be in contact with an infant.
It’s not hard to find, on the internet, someone pooh-poohing the hysteria over whooping cough because their kids got it and it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Sentimental medicine,” an article in the January issue of Harper’s, details some of our modern-day vaccine fears — while noting the this story is as old as, perhaps older than, vaccines — but then turns the question of why to get vaccinated around. Because, yes, you could play the odds and perhaps survive, yourself.
“Vaccination works,” my father, a doctor, tells me, “by enlisting a majority in the protection of a minority.” He means the minority of the population that is particularly vulnerable to a disease. The elderly, in the case of influenza. Newborns, in the case of pertussis.
“Those of us who draw on collective immunity owe our health to our neighbors,” writes the author, Eula Biss. She compares it to the practice of donating to blood banks, and the feeling (or sentiment) that it’s best to keep oneself in the black regarding these accounts. If you have never had to think about blood donation prior to you, a family member, or acquaintance needing a transfusion, that’s because so many other people did think, in advance.
The protection of a vaccine isn’t just in the vaccine–it’s in the number of people who get vaccinated. Just as we’re likely to estimate ourselves the luckiest person in a casino, many like to roll the dice with disease. But vaccination, as Biss emphasizes, isn’t all about you. It’s about keeping others safe, too.
The pertussis vaccine is often criticized because it’s not 100-percent effective. But you don’t need 100-percent effectiveness to rid pertussis of its ability to reach epidemic levels–which Washington surpassed earlier this year. Pertussis has a natural variability, so its decline this fall doesn’t mean much in terms of any acquired protection. It tends to spike every two to three years, if it gets a chance. You can find out more about low-cost whooping cough vaccines here.
