All things being equal, you would rather not have pertussis in Philadelphia, where there is evidence of a vaccine-resistant strain of pertussis springing up. The CDC is downplaying the discovery a bit, because the resistance discovered affects just one component of the acellular whooping cough vaccine. Continue reading Pertussis Vaccine Challenged by the Rise of Pertactin Mutants
According to a 2011 study of studies conducted by infectious disease experts, the flu nasal sprays (or LAIVs) “consistently show highest efficacy in young children (aged 6 months to 7 years),” at 83 percent effectiveness. The trivalent inactivated vaccine (TIV) that’s in a flu shot rings in at 59 percent effectiveness in adults 18 to 64. Continue reading Nasal Spray is Tops for Flu Protection for Kids
“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. Continue reading In King County, a Baby Has Died of Whooping Cough
The majority of confirmed cases, nationally and in Washington, are of the influenza A H3 variety, and the head of the CDC, Dr. Thomas Frieden, says this year’s flu shot is protecting well against those strains of the bug. (So far, the incidence of pertussis remains low, too.) Continue reading Washington State’s Flu Season is Now Open
The tour means to “educate adults 18 through 64 years of age about the seriousness of influenza and vaccine options available.” For instance, did you know that the majority of your neighbors are passively trying to infect you with the flu? During the 2010-11 flu season, only 36 percent of Washington adults 18-to-64 got immunized. Continue reading No Better Time for Your Flu Shot or Nasal Spray
“After the fifth dose of DTaP, the odds of acquiring pertussis increased by an average of 42% per year,” the study’s authors write. Said another way, the overall protection rate of the DTaP vaccine declines to 71 percent from 95 percent by the fifth year after the fifth shot.
For context, unvaccinated children have odds of getting whooping cough “at least eight times higher than children who received all five doses” of DTaP (CDC pdf). Continue reading Whooping Cough Vaccine (DTaP) Not as Long-Lived as Thought
As you can see from the chart above, whooping cough has exploded from its edging-into-epidemic levels of last year, and Washington has yet to face the fall and winter. The CDC’s report on Washington’s epidemic records a 1,300-percent increase in the number of cases, the worst outbreak in the state since 1942–but that was as of June 16. Continue reading Whooping Cough Epidemic in Washington Now Up 1,300% From 2011
