Q&A on whooping cough: Are illegal immigrants fueling the outbreak? State officials say no

A number of readers have contacted The Times wanting to know more about the whooping cough outbreak and who has been affected by the severe bacterial disease. State officials said this week that the epidemic is now the worst in the state for pertussis in 55 years, killing nine people, all infants younger than 3 months of age.

As The Times continues to cover the outbreak, readers are encouraged to send their questions to ron.lin@latimes.com.

Question: What role have illegal immigrants played in spreading whooping cough in California?

Answer: Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, said state officials do not believe there is any connection between immigration and the whooping cough outbreak.

"We absolutely do not think either legal or illegal immigration has anything to do with the California pertussis epidemic," August said.

Public health officials, he said, have a number of reasons for reaching this conclusion. His response, edited for clarity, continues below:

• Pertussis did not need to be imported into California. It's always been here.
• Mexico does a great job vaccinating for pertussis. Until just a few years ago, Mexico was using the whole-cell vaccine,  which is probably more effective than the acellular vaccine that has been used in the U.S. since the 1990s.
•  There is no pertussis outbreak/epidemic in Mexico.
•  Immunization rates in Hispanic children are high.
• All adults, whether they are from the U.S. or Mexico, are likely to be susceptible to pertussis.  A 2008 survey found that about 6% of U.S. adults stated they had received Tdap, a whooping cough inoculation for adolescents and adults that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005.  The number is actually likely to be lower since the responses were not verified.
• Hispanic infants are overrepresented among pertussis cases, but this discrepancy disappears after six months of age when most infants have received three doses of Dtap -- the vaccine for infants -- and are much less vulnerable to pertussis. 
• Overall rates of pertussis disease are highest in whites.  We think Hispanic infants are overrepresented among young infants because they are more likely to live in larger households, per census data, and have more contacts. More contacts means more opportunities to be exposed to someone with pertussis.

-- Rong-Gong Lin II

Previous Q & A: How many of the eight infants who died were immunized for whooping cough

Demographics: California weekly update for Sept. 14

Comments

[countingbeans]

Those pointing a finger at immigrants and Latinos, need only refer to the Times article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immunization29-2009mar29,0,3148179.story

Take a look at the map. The schools with the highest rates of unvaccinated children are all affluent.

The blame for this epidemic rests heavily on the parents of those children.

[Master of Public Health in Los Angeles]

Why are the rates of pertussis infection highest among whites?
Because airy-fairy, crystal healing parents think that the vaccine is worse than the disease. They believe in magical thinking instead of hard science.

There is something called "herd immunity" which means that if most people are immunized, the chances of an outbreak of disease among non-vaccinated individuals is possible but unlikely - because there aren't enough non-vaccinated hosts.

But our herd immunity is breaking down because so many parents are just misinformed. We need to change the laws and make immunization mandatory for school attendance - NO EXCEPTIONS.

I am old enough to remember what life was like when people got sick and even died from polio, smallpox, measles, whooping cough, diptheria, tetnus and all the other diseases we now vaccinate for.

When your kid dies from a preventable illness, you'll feel like a real fool, but it will be too late.

[wongton4u]

Sounds like the author (Rong Gong Lin) of this article is creating incitement against one ethnic group. Sounds to me they're using immigration issues for sensational news (LA Times). Its ludicrous to even post a story like this, the LA Times is losing its credibility. LA Times = Enquirer and other tabloid nonsense.

I bet they don't post this comment, LA Times is great at censorship, Welcome to China.

[epespinoza43]

Parental carelessness is causing whooping cough!

[Lori]

e-coli too, that's why they had to close down all the Sizzlers.

[Lori]

They don't even wash their hands!

[Jessica]

This article uses "illegal immigrant" and "Hispanic" interchangeably. The questions was about "illegal immigrants," but the answers were concerning rates of vaccinations among Hispanics-- most of which are legal. It's irresponsible to post something like this without clarifying the groups as separate populations, because it feeds into the misconception that "Latinos" or "Hispanics" are also “illegal”. Media need to start understanding Hispanics as a diverse community, and illegal immigrants as a diverse population. Articles with such a dramatic title fuel fears against immigrants, and in doing so, Hispanics. Like it or not, most people just read the title not the whole article. I hope the next article you write can have more sensitivity and cultural understanding.

[Michael from Orange]

What about other immigrants like those from the Asian countries as another big potential source in the whooping cough epidemic ? I have read and heard there is a huge problem with sickness and disease and the widespread failure to cope with those problems in places like India beasue of either neglect, lack of resources or the OVERUSE and missue of anti biotics by those people.

[tachue]

Why are all illegal immigrants considered Mexican?????

[Javier]

@ Jessica.

Whenever you see an illegal immigration march on the news, almost the entire crowd tends to be of latino descent. I don't really think it's all that diverse. Lets call a spade a spade. Because of the proximity of Latin America to the US, of course, the overwhelming majority of newcomers to this country (and illegal ones as well) would be latino/latina. I'll be the first to admit, it's not all that diverse, at all. But there's a reason for it. Simply less people will want to go from Africa or China to get here, rather than through Mexico or Guatamala for example, the distance is just much easier to handle.

[Doctors dont know]

get real!!

[allen a.]

funny how when the term illegal immigrant pops up, people automatically think of people from mexico. note the stats said nothing about italians, africans, indians or chinese. mexicans really f*'ked up everything didn't they?

[Herbert44]

How could these poor undocunmented workers (illegal aliens) who just run the border instead of going through health checks required of every other vistor to the US be the cause of importing diseases that run rampant in Mexico, but were totally wiped out in the US? That's a racist attitude and President Obama will demand the US Supreme Court to declare that kind of speech banned by the First Amendment.

[Al Bondigas]

Given the above stats, blames Mexicans anyway, it's convenient, right?

[AmericanWay]

Well of course..certain people think that illegals are responsible for every type of plague and pestilence known on the planet! More likely, it's the slovenly habits of our own home-grown crop of humans that's responsible.

[LA MusicMan]

Many of us have pointed out for years that allowing illegal immigrants into this nation unchallenged is having consquences on our health and our healthcare system!

[Dan K]

I've encountered three teenagers with whooping cough this month. All were middle class caucasions. At least two attend pretty expensive private schools.

[Paul]

WOW Jessica!! I A L W A Y S read these comments and have never heard a more intelligent and very considerate post....EVER.
WELL SAID

[native american]

Yes they are, they are responsible for all the world's problems. Especially americas problems. Everyone knows that America is on top of their problems, and illegal immigrants just bring more problems, and they have been ever since the pilgrims brought over small poxs. I mean we have no problems here in America, caused by americans that's why we have time to make shows that follow so called celebrities around all day. And we have game shows that in other countries are real everydat life. I mean if these immigrants can't stay away, how are we going to celebrate our daughter's sweet 16, with a fandu fountain, and $100k parties.

[Just a Guest]

Jessica,I am just wondering where you have been living for the past 20 years. Your statement "Hispanics-- most of which are legal." is absolutely ludicrous. The only reason there are so many hispanics in this country is due to illegal immigration. Children born to illegal immigrant are only legal because of a glitch in our legal system. We are the only country in the world that allows this. Many of the older 'legal' hispanics are only legal because of Reagan's Amnestey back in the 80's. Magically illegal became legal because he chose to ignore the rule of law and pardon millions of criminals who illegally entered this country.

[Pathetic]

For a second I was thinking this was the daily news with their anti-immigrant content.
On yahoo this is how this story is being promoted
"Are illegal immigrants fueling the outbreak?- L.A. Times"

[Jo Huff]

what the dont mention is how much Aids and other stds they spread and carry brought over from mexico.

[alex]

i don't care what the facts say.

i'm going to use this as an excuse to be racist and xenophobic.

[robrye]

illegal politicians are responsible for this mess.they are the liers.

[Irma Acuna]

Why is this article so short sided? What makes the author think that only Mexican illegal immigrants could be the ones bringing in foreign illnesses. What about all the other illegals from other countries? Did he review their outbreak numbers? I think not!