Whooping cough data from state show babies hardest hit, epidemic worst since 1955 [Updated]

Babies have been hardest hit by whooping cough in California, according to new statistics released by the state Department of Public Health.

All nine deaths so far this year have been among infants under 3 months old. Among patients who are critically ill with the disease, babies have also been disproportionately hospitalized.

According to the data released late Wednesday, of 196 patients known to have been hospitalized with whooping cough in California, 74% were infants under 6 months old and most -- 57% -- were under 3 months old.

Whooping cough is often spread to babies by parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents and other adults. Because infants do not begin vaccinations until they are 2 months old, health officials for months have been pleading for anyone who expects to be in contact with babies -- especially pregnant women -- to get vaccinated.

“There are a lot of people who aren’t fully immunized,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “People with respiratory conditions and cold-like conditions should not have contact with small infants.”

 

Whooping cough is spreading among adults too, but many of those cases aren’t reflected in the state’s numbers because the disease is often not diagnosed in adults.

Cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, continue to tick upward in California. State data as of Tuesday show that California has had the most cases of whooping cough since 1955, with 4,017 confirmed, probable and suspect cases reported so far this year.

The latest figure surpasses the number of cases reported in 1958 in California, when 3,837 people were sickened with the severe bacterial disease. This year marks the highest number of whooping cough cases in California since widespread vaccination efforts began in the 1940s and '50s.

[Updated 1:45 p.m.: State officials said the current rate of infection is 10.3 cases per 100,000 people, the highest incidence since 1962 when the state reported a rate of 10.9 cases per 100,000.]

Health officials also released demographic information showing that 77% of the hospitalized infants under 6 months old were Latino, as were eight of the nine fatalities.

Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, said health officials believe very young Latino infants are overrepresented in hospitalized cases because Latino babies “are more likely to live in larger households, per census data,” giving the infants more opportunities to be exposed to someone with whooping cough.

Infants under 6 months old are among the most susceptible to whooping cough because they are too young to have received the three inoculations needed to give them considerable protection from the disease. Vaccination guidelines call for shots at 2, 4 and 6 months.

August said the rates of immunization for Latino children are high and after 6 months of age hospitalization rates drop for Latinos. State data show that, overall, whites are the most likely group to be affected by whooping cough.

In addition to high rates of whooping cough in infants under 6 months old, state data also show high rates among children ages 7 to 9 and people ages 10 to 18 years.

Cases of whooping cough seemed to surge this summer, according to the state data, with more than 700 cases reported in May and close to 1,000 cases each in June and July.

The state numbers on pertussis cases ultimately may climb. Some diagnoses may come later, and confirmed cases are not always immediately relayed by counties to Sacramento.

A news conference to discuss the state's whooping cough epidemic, as well as the upcoming flu season, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday in Sacramento.

Fielding, the health officer in Los Angeles, said he didn’t know whether whopping cough cases had crested locally. He said he anticipated more diagnoses as children return to school this month and as doctors pay more attention to a disease some have erroneously believed was relegated to the history books.
 
-- Rong-Gong Lin II

Photo:  Carla Gottgens / Bloomberg. Patient being vaccinated against pertussis, a.k.a. whooping cough.

Comments

[di]

A health care provider with long fake nails and no gloves? Just what I want to see with an article about the spread of disease.

And where I live, the school with the highest rate of vaccine refusal--around half--is the Waldorf school. Three guesses who sends their kids there.

[The Dude]

Yeah, those vaccines are really dangerous, because I know a guy who said his neighbor's kid go sick from one. On the other hand, Polio, measles, mumps, Rubella, Whooping Cough, Pneumococcal disease, influenza, Hepatitis A & B, Rotavirus, Shingles (chicken pox) and Tetanus are totally fine for kids... it's the things that protect us from those diseases you need to worry about - you know, because I know a guy. /* end sarcasm */

@HT - excellent work.

[Jim]

Where is Jenny McCarthy now??

[countingbeans]

To those blaming Latinos / illegal immigrants. Please read this article, and take a look at the map included: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immunization29-2009mar29,0,3148179.story

The schools with 7.5% or more unvaccinated are primarily 1) private or 2) in upper-middle-class, white neighborhoods. The Times concludes, "The rise in unvaccinated children appears to be driven by affluent parents choosing not to immunize"

The problem clearly is not Latinos, it's the misinformed upper-middle class parents who bought into the Jenny McCarthy autism scare. They're petrified of having their precious babies diagnosed as autistic.

Proof that irrational fears drive irrational decisions.

[OC mom]

To grand ma: I would have agreed with you until my child received the MMR immunization. With every immunization my child had gotten a high fever, but with the MMR swelled up, had a high fever, and did not speak another word (my child was a "typical" talking/acting child before this). I am not saying that the immunization "caused" my child's autism. What I can tell you is that my our life changed that day, and that immunization brought it out. I will NEVER finish my child's immunizations nor have I ever immunized my other children. Each parent should do their own research. I would assume that you would be cautious too if we were in my shoes.

and thank you HT for your comment :)

[MMS]

This article is ridiculous. It's obviously propelled by the marketing arms of BIG PHARMA.
The erroneous belief that vaccinations are equivalent to immunization is the first mis-step in the facts presented here, along with the deficiencies already pointed out by other commenters.
Most CONSUMERS have been brainwashed to make this association when, in scientific fact, there is none.
Injecting partial genomes from Virulent strains suspended in Mercury or Thimerisol is NOT SCIENCE. It was an EXPERIMENT by Louis Pasteur, and the only conclusion was that it was vastly profitable for Big Pharma. Now we are bombarded with a myriad of vaccines and increased injection frequency.
C'mon people, it's not hard to study up and find the truth.

[Its worldwide]

We are haveing a big rise in whooping cough in Australia, in fact a baby died here yesterday and we have no latino population.

Tim of Adelaide Posted at 6:00 PM September 16, 2010
To those concerned about thimerosal (ethyl mercury) in vaccines, its worth noting that thimerosal has been removed from almost all vaccines since 2000. The only vaccines that still contain thimerosal are adult vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and Q-Fever, and multi-dose vials of some flu vaccines and one brand of HepB vaccine. If you don't want your child exposed to thimerosal, ask for a single-dose syringe of the flu vaccine or a thimerosal-free alternative.

[scorpionleather]

Without effective control over who comes through our borders, it is not surprising that we see an increase in third-world diseases. The question is - when will policymakers wake up and secure the border.

[Stephen J. Smith]

How tragic. Another ugly facet regarding undocumented, un-immunized people.

[2BJB2]

Is this B. pertussis or B. parapertussis? B. pertussis which we have a vaccine for and B.parapertussis which we don't have a vaccine for which is quite milder.These are so simular that they often get misdiagnosed. Sorry to hear that 9 children died, but what about the 62 children that died from the vaccine on VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) from 2009- June 30, 2010! Why aren't these children ever mentioned? They had died trying to prevent this disease? SO SAD! Something is so wrong with our system on prevention!

[lauren]

This is why it is so important that we vaccinate our children. My 2 month old was recently hospitalized because of croup caused by a virus that we don't yet have a vaccination for. Thankfully he fully recovered, but that is often not the case for kids who get whopping cough. Think about it this way: would you rather your child was autistic (which, vaccinations don't cause anyway!) or dead? As the mother of an autistic child, I can say with certainty I would choose autism!

[fax cover]

the stats show that most of the cases of whooping cough are a mere infants, in fact, under 6months. this shows how the disease is still prevailing in the modern world having numerous vaccines and other prophylaxis. i say most important of all is that the guardians should be aware enough and be responsible for their child's health.