Another DTAP Question DR confused me

[Aquafina]

Say a child is getting dtap and its going to cause a reaction.Now the child is out and about hasnt got the shot yet just chatching the WC bug out there in the wild cant that give them the same affect as what the shot would, reaction wise


Or would it be more mild from the natural version vs then if they were to have got the shot and got a reaction from it?


Hope that makes senice,as my ped said a reaction from wild WC would be worse then the reaction from the shot.....And that the reactions from both would be quite simlier if the child was 1 in how many that was going to be harmed by the vax.....If they were to have a reaction and that the reaction from the natural would be quite bad then if I was to just do the shots as he has never really seen any reactions from the shot..

[MissRubyandKen]

Say what? Not sure one could or should compare the two at all. The pertussis component of the vaccine isn't live, it's not as though a reaction to it would be actually contracting pertussis and similar to symptoms of pertussis at all.

ETA: You're not going to see something you're not looking for. I'd wager on the nurses telling parents calling in that all 'reactions' are 'normal'. I hear it ALL THE TIME from other parents.

[Marnica]

wha???

Not sure what that doc is telling you but above poster is right. A child may still contract WC even though they are vaccinated and the case MAY be milder than a child who is unvaccinated who were to catch WC. Maybe that's what he was trying to say??

[cloak]

Originally Posted by Aquafina

Say a child is getting dtap and its going to cause a reaction.Now the child is out and about hasnt got the shot yet just chatching the WC bug out there in the wild cant that give them the same affect as what the shot would, reaction wise.

No, the reactions would not necessarily be the same. First of all, the DTaP shot does not just have pertussis (whooping cough) in it. You are also vaccinating for diptheria and tetanus. If your child has a reaction to the shot they may be reacting to the tetanus portion and not the pertussis portion. Second, the shot also contains much more than just the disease antigens. It also contains aluminum, formaldehyde, gelatin, polysorbate 80, etc. If your child has a reaction to the vaccine they could be reacting to any one of those components. Aluminum is especially reactive.

Reactions to the DTaP are pain, swelling at the injection site, seizures, encephalitis, etc. You can read them all here.
https://www.vaccineshoppe.com/image....pe=product_pdf

Whooping cough typically causes coughing spells, sometimes severe enough to cause vomitting. The most common complication is pneumonia. You can read all about it here.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pin...s/pert-508.pdf

I will say that both the disease and the vaccine can cause seizures, encephalopathy, and death. But to say that if you react to the disease you will react to the vaccine in the same way is just silly. Furthermore, if you are going to have seizures, encephalopathy and death from either, what good is the vaccine going to do you?

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by Aquafina

.. my ped said a reaction from wild WC would be worse then the reaction from the shot.....

He is talking about two different things altogether.

A reaction to the shot is not to the WC bacteria. It would be to the toxic components in the shot - other than the bacteria since it is a dead bacteria and causes no reaction.

A reaction is when a child can not tolerate the additional components in the vaccine. Things that a child would never come in contact with otherwise.

Wild WC bacteria on the other hand can cause whooping cough in the child but not necessarily. Some people carry the bacteria and have no symptoms.
Whooping cough is no fun but it is over with in 100 days.

A reaction to the vaccine can cause life long problems. The DTaP vaccine is also linked to SIDS.

It sounds like the doctor was giving you wrong information.

[stacey05]

>Wild WC bacteria on the other hand can cause whooping cough in the child but not necessarily. Some people carry the bacteria and have no symptoms.
Whooping cough is no fun but it is over with in 100 days.<

So, Gitti, are you saying that some people might not ever actually get sick with wc? They just carry it and it lays dormant? I am asking because I guess I was vaccinated as a kid (born in the late 60's), but I know I haven't received another vaccine in over 25 years...and I don't think I have ever gotten it. Not even bronchitis, which I know can really be wc and misdiagnosed in adults. Anyway, I was just curious about this?

Thanks,

Stacey

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by stacey05

So, Gitti, are you saying that some people might not ever actually get sick with wc? They just carry it and it lays dormant?

Yes, we all might carry wc bacteria from time to time and not have symptoms. But we can also inadvertently pass the bacteria on and the person we pass it on to gets sick.

It's one of those things that totally depend on your immune strength at the time.

I have never had a wc vaccine. When I was about 8 yo. my three cousins had wc and I was exposed to them every single day for the entire duration. I did not get wc although surely I got the bacteria (I was coughed on plenty). I did have wc as an adult, although it was not diagnosed and was basically an annoying cough. The only reason why I am fairly sure it was wc was because of the duration. The cough lasted well over 4 months but was never severe (common in grown ups). Even the next Fall it came back again but only for a few weeks.

Yes, we can carry ANY bacteria and not necessarily get sick from it.

Edited to say the bacteria may lay dormant for a while but most likely the body clears itself of it again.

[Deborah]

I'm 59 and unvaxed except for one tetanus shot when I was 8 or 9. As far as I can tell, I've never had symptomatic whooping cough. My unvaxed siblings never seem to have gotten it either. Apparently some proportion of people can have it without symptoms, in other words we don't get sick (knock on wood).

On the other hand, tests of antibodies show that people are constantly being exposed, so the illness is actually very common and circulating all over the place. There is some study, or maybe it is in the Pink Book. I'm not going to look it up now, need to go to bed, sorry.