Whooping Cough Summary

Cause: Whooping Cough, also known as Pertussis, is a highly contagious disease affecting the respiratory system (nose, throat, lungs and airways) and is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The ‘whoop’ from the cough derives from the deep breaths at the end of each bout of coughing. Whooping cough is very infectious and affects individuals of all ages.

Protecting a child’s health is very important to parents! That is why they should vaccinate them as young children. All children should be required to have vaccinations in order to start school in every state. Each year, about 85% of the world’s youth receive vaccines that protect them against several diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumococcus, and many more. Even with great success and improvements with vaccinations, more than 3 million people die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases. An estimate of about 1.5 million of these deaths are in children less than five years old. Of the top ten reported cases of those deaths, several are infectious. (Global Immunizations: Worldwide Disease Incidence, 2017). However, some parents feel vaccines are not safe because they are convinced vaccines are the cause of autism. Nevertheless, Vaccinations are very much necessary. There are many benefits to vaccinating children early. Immunizations should be mandatory because they can save a child’s life, save families time and money, and eliminate diseases forever.

All too often we hear on the news of the devastating effects of a disease that could have been prevented by vaccines, but because of parents refusal to vaccinate their infants and children, public health professionals are now confronted with a health crisis. The importance of vaccinations is to provide children with added protection because of a young, developing immune system. Consequently, vaccines will help in boosting the immune system in recognizing and protecting children from vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, mumps, and pertussis, also known as whooping cough.1 For example, pertussis, a bacterial infection that is preventable by vaccines, has infected 16 million persons worldwide, and causes about 195,000 deaths

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), reports illnesses such as polio, measles, rubella, tetanus and pertussis that were previously rampant are now obviated by the influx of vaccines and has protected the lives of millions of citizens. Moreover, neonates who have a diminished immune system receive immunoglobins from their mother, yet, the immunity last for about a year. When these infants

Once vaccinated, the person is protected from whooping cough for roughly 10 years and needs to receive the Tdap booster vaccine again. (Tdap- Tetanus and Diphtheria). This is a negative aspect as one vaccination doesn't provide a lifelong solution to Pertussis.

Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a bacterium, Bordatella pertussis. In 2010 it affected 27, 5501 individuals and was responsible for 262 deaths in the United States. Bordatella pertussis colonizes in the cilia of the respiratory tract3 producing uncontrollable coughing with paroxysms (fits) followed with a high pitched intake of air creating a whoop sound, posttussive emesis (cough induced vomiting), and exhaustion.3 These symptoms can last up to 10 weeks.3 Adults can transfer Pertussis to infants who are not fully immunized, subsequently, they are at a greater risk and may have serious complications from Pertussis including pneumonia and death.4

Whooping cough, which is also known as, Pertussis, is caused by infection by the Bordetella Pertussis bacteria. A highly contagious bacterial disease affects the respiratory system and produces spasms of coughing that usually end in a high-pitched whooping sound.

Vaccinations contributes to the overall suppression of a disease. The more children that are vaccinated, the lower the reports of infection and deaths due to a disease are. The Center for Disease Control, in an article supporting immunizations, mentions a case in Japan where 80% of the children were vaccinated for pertussis, or whooping cough. That same year the number of deaths reported were zero and the infection count was below 400 children. After a while, parents stopped thinking that their children needed to be vaccinated. That following year only 10% of the children were vaccinated, which resulted in the death rate increasing by 41% and the number of infections being thirty two times larger than the previous year. When comparing and contrasting the years, whether not a child got the vaccination proves to be a huge factor in determining

What is pertussis, commonly known as “whooping cough”? Whooping cough is an infection of the respiratory

That being said, serious damage from vaccination is a rare occurrence (Malone and Hinaman). A Glanz study (2013) from the Vaccine Safety data link demonstrated a direct magnitude that as communities were under vaccinated for Pertussis, the risk of Pertusis increased. The study also showed a 28 times higher rate of Pertussis in children that had no Pertussis vaccination documentation (Glanz et al. 2913). This study as well as an intense list of data by the CDC emulates supportive data for the effectiveness of vaccinations.

Imagine, if you would, a small infant being rushed to the hospital; Her parents are desperately crying out for help as she is starting to turn blue. She is coughing so violently that she can no longer breathe. The sounds of the infant gasping for air fills the room. She was recently diagnosed with pertussis and it has progressed so quickly that now she is in respiratory failure. She is rushed to the intensive care unit where doctors and nurses rush around her in chaos. She is starting to crash, so they place a tube down her throat, an IV line into her head, before finally placing her onto a machine that will mechanically breathe for her. They maneuver around her limp body as they do everything they can to try and save her life. Her future is unknown because pertussis is dangerous and can be fatal. This could have been prevented if she had been vaccinated. Vaccines for children should be mandatory. It will prevent them from suffering through the long-lasting effects of diseases and even death. Vaccines were developed to save lives.

ones to not only vaccinate their children, but themselves as well. Pertussis was once believed to

On April 19, 1982, a televised documentary titled Vaccine Roulette aired showing the world the severe side effects DTP was causing on children and scientists opinions against the vaccine. What Vaccine Roulette purposely forgot to mention to nations of concerned, watchful parents was that the DTP vaccine nearly extinct the pertussis virus and that they had taken the answers of scientists and cropped their answers to best fit their case. As a British epidemiologist previously stated, “Once again the media have succeeded in denting parents confidence in childhood immunization” (Conis 209). Shortly after this documentary aired, vaccine compensation programs were established to protect those who unfortunately had a severe reaction to a vaccine and new and improved vaccines were formulated, tested, and released for administration to the

Out of all the vaccine preventable diseases, pertussis challenges most infectious diseases in severity and importance in children. In 2014, the incidence rate of pertussis in the United States increased by 15%, with almost 33,000 cases reported (Centers for Disease Control, 2015). The bacterium that causes this illness attacks an unprotected immune by attaching to the lining of the respiratory system. After initial attack, begins the release of the toxins that prohibit the respiratory system from working functionally. Because of this, mucus builds up in the lungs, causing an uncontrollable cough that makes breathing difficult (Tan et al, 2005). This illness is very contagious and almost always deadly in children. However, it can be prevented with proper vaccination. This problem can be addressed with the Health Belief Model (HBM), which encourages preventive health actions in order to prevent unwanted adverse conditions, with the idea that action depends on the value and expectancy of the behavior.

Pertussis, is a very contagious disease that effects the lungs. Though, a person of any age can have pertussis, it is most common in infants or children of young ages. Pertussis is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella Pertussis. The disease is more commonly known as Whooping cough. This is because of the sound one may hear from someone who has this disease. Per the Center for disease control, the bacteria will release a toxin that attaches to the patient’s airway which causes swelling and damage (Reference 1). This can cause a chronic cough lasting a long time. The bacteria spreads through the water droplets in a cough or a sneeze. Being in close contact with a person with pertussis, can be enough to catch the bacteria also. A person may