Whooping cough 'outbreak' in area school

[kriket]

I'm not sure of the details my mom told me about it and I saw a 2 second ad on TV for the news later. Something about 73 confirmed and suspected cases. Sounds like it's 90% scare tactic.

OK 2 parter

What should I do if this happens when my children are in school? Pull them out? send them in a SARS mask? Re-teach the handwashing song?

part 2. HA!! My mom called me to tell me about this and try to urge me to vax and I told her 'what good will it do? I bet you all those kids are vaxed and they still caught it." I got the mom face, I couldn't see it but I know she was giving me that pursed lip, squinty eyed don't-talk-to-your-mother-like-that-look

[applejuice]

When your children are in school, the school is expected to notify you of the incidence of the disease in the school. If your children are unvaccinated, they will be excluded from school for the duration of the outbreak.

You should know that whenever there is an outbreak of a VPD, that of those who get the disease,

one-third are fully vaccinated
one-third are partially vaccinated
one-third are not vaccinated, more or less.

[kriket]

I'm going to need more info then that. Why because my kids are unvaxed are they excluded? Is this a state rule? I also find it hard to believe that it is evenly broken between vax/partial/unvax We are a military town and most of the children are vaxed. maybe partial vax, or expired vaxes. Do you have stats on those numbers?

[applejuice]

It is the law in CA.

You would need to check your laws in Ohio. YOu do have a philosophical exemption if you choose to use it. http://www.nvic.org/state-site/Ohio.htm

In order for a doctor to diagnose a fully vaccinated child with a VPD, that doctor has to be able to recognize the VPD; most doctors, once they are told the child has certain symptoms and is vaccinated will not make a diagnosis of a VPD, the doctor will make an alternative diagnosis, and that VPD will not be reported to the Health Department. A child with a bad cough who is vaccinated will rarely be diagnosed with Whooping Cough, and the necessary lab tests to make this diagnosis will never be ordered; chronic bronchitis is a more likely diagnosis. So how do we ever know how many children, being fully vaccinated ever get the VPD they are vaccinated against?

Doctors who are looking at a child with symptoms of a VPD and are told that the child is partially vaccinated or not vaccinated, the doctor will probably be more agreeable to making a diagnosis of a VPD if he thinks the child is vaccine deprived.

BTW, my Father is from Cincinnati, (Pleasant Ridge) Ohio.

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by kriket

OK 2 parter

What should I do if this happens when my children are in school? Pull them out? send them in a SARS mask? Re-teach the handwashing song?

Like pp said, you will be notified and your kids will be sent home. The school must provide you with private lessons.

Handwashing serves little purpose. It is spread by droplets from nose to nose.

The bacteria is spread around before the cough is noticed. And at times fully healthy people carry the bacteria in the throat and dont' get wc.

Also those who are freshly vaccinated with wc vaccine do not prevent transmission of the bacteria that causes wc. So the vaccine is pretty useless.


I can't see a second question you had.

[Full Heart]

Originally Posted by kriket

I'm going to need more info then that. Why because my kids are unvaxed are they excluded? Is this a state rule? I also find it hard to believe that it is evenly broken between vax/partial/unvax We are a military town and most of the children are vaxed. maybe partial vax, or expired vaxes. Do you have stats on those numbers?

I would bet its state law everywhere. Its is here in AZ too. They are excluded because you could get wc. Never mind that the vaxed kids could too .

DTaP is not very effective against wc. If you get protection you are only protected on avg of 7 years. Its a very highly under reported condition and many times misdiagnosed because its not very severe. So AJ is right its probably evenly distributed among the population. You aren't gonna find exact stats because reporting of the disease has its limitations and they want to cover their butt (no one is gonna pay for a vax that doesn't work).

I will warn you about these news stories. Here my kids were the ones that put the state over the limit to receive federal funding. Trust me they are actively looking for non vaxed kids who might have wc. So the stats you hear are going to be slanted. Trust me there are probably more, many many more, than 73 cases around you.

If you are concerned have some SA on hand. Oh and you can tell your mother that it takes time to build immunity to the vax so if you have already been exposed - too late.