Whooping Cough Epidemic To Hit USA In Late Spring, Hospitals Are Advising What To Do

5The biggest danger about whooping cough

While whooping cough is an infectious disease that can be passed on from child to child through coughing and sneezing, the infection could also be passed onto babies and kids by parents, older kids and caregivers who won’t even know they have the disease.

In the last outbreak of 2012, health officials blamed it on fewer people opting for vaccinations. They have also revealed that they don’t even understand what the pattern that is behind such outbreaks is and the one expected this spring. 

Image Source: profitis-here1.info

6California on highest alert

California is on the highest alert because an outbreak in 2014 reported 11,000 cases and the deaths of two infants. According to Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s hospital, 'This year is likely to be an epidemic year,' he told the Sacremento Bee. “'We would expect toward late spring a ramping up of cases,' he added of California. In Georgia, health officials warned of an increase in cases reported from the area.

Image Source: www.spektrumzdravi.cz

7The fatality rate is one in five hundred

In whooping cough, at least one in five infants can die because of complications like apnea, seizure and pneumonia. In certain cases, babies are unable to cough and this stops them from breathing making them turn blue because of lack of oxygen. The disease is not much of a problem in adults but the worst part about it is that 70 % of cases affecting children are transmitted from adults. 

Image Source: www.newhealthguide.org

8Adults should also get vaccinated

Experts are now warning people of all ages to get vaccinated. In 3012, there was a staggering 48,277 cases in comparison to a lesser number of cases in 2016 which was 17,972. Pertussis rates have dropped by 80% since the forties because of vaccination but that is still nothing to be relived about because if one baby dies, that number means nothing to its mother. It may sound a harsh statement but a practical one at that. 

Image Source: outbreaknewstoday.com

9The vaccine recommended for whooping cough

The vaccine that children need to take for whooping cough is called the DTaP which is a five time vaccine before the ages of two and then a booster after age four for thorough immunization against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus. Your child’s pediatrician or local hospital will inform you about the vaccination schedule. 

Image Source: heaclub.ru