My new doc recommended the pertussis vax for me...

[Freud]

He said that whooping cough is making a comeback and it would not be good for a person with asthma to get it. I said no thank you. I also said no to the flu vax that he offered me. Oh, and the Guardasil.

Is this true about whooping cough?

[MountainMamaGC]

Pertussis is more common in the fall. The vaccine doesnt work that great anyway so if you didnt get it, try not to worry.

[Sileree]

This is not proof of anything, I just thought this little tidbit from an article in the BMJ was interesting:

"Although many asthmatic patients got whooping cough, it did not seem to exacerbate asthma. Indeed, during and after whooping cough asthma was less troublesome and often remained so for many months."

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/310/6975/299

[Freud]

Wow. That IS interesting. I'm glad I didn't get the vax. I'm sure I'll be just fine.

[Marnica]

Pertussis is not making a comeback....it never went anywhere to begin with!
WC like many infectious diseases is cyclical in nature and "makes a comeback" about every 4 years despite high or low vaccination rates.

http://www.who.int/immunization_moni...cidenceper.htm

not scientific and many cases go unreported but look at the USA # of pertussis cases going back to 1980. Also compare reported cases in the US to other countries. We have some of the highest vaccination rates in the world and the highest # of reprted pertussis cases as well......

[soontobeamama]

I just wanted to say that I got whooping cough two years ago, and it was terrible! I was sick for months with it, had several trips to the emergency room because I was coughing to hard and so much that I couldn't breath, and continued to have problems with the cough for a long time after. My doctor told me as well that it was "making a comeback" and that I had probably caught it because at the time I was babysitting a lot of small children.

Ugh...I hope it's not "making a comeback" and that other people don't have to deal with it. And I was a healthy adult, not immune-suppressed or anything!