Local infant pertussis death making me question things...

[jupitermama]

Hello all,

I am new to the site and this is actually my first post.

I have 2 little boys, 5 years and 12 weeks.  My 5 year old was vaxed on schedule and bringing him to the pediatrician's office every few months for shot after shot just felt wrong to me.  I had to put him in daycare at 8 weeks old, so they "required" the shots. Now I am much more educated on the subject and want to selectively/delay vax.  I thought I had it all figured out...I was going to wait until at least 6 months, and start with pentacel.  I am breastfeeding as much as I can but have to supplement with formula because i have to work and cant pump enough.  I am also spending big money on a private sitter who only watches my kids, so my infant is not exposed to tons of nasty bugs in daycare.

Now for the kink in my plan:  Last week an infant 2 towns away DIED of pertussis.  He was less than 2 months old, so too young to be vaccinated.  We are hardly in the midst of an outbreak, but now it looks like I need to reconsider the risks vs. benefits of vaccinating earlier.

I have been lurking on these forums for a while and it seems like there are lots of highly knowledgable mamas on this site...I was wondering what others might do in this situation...

[Turquesa]

I would start by googling "pertussis" "vaccine" "prevents" "transmission."  There is great controversy as to whether or not it does.  Somebody here can provide the link to the vaccine's package insert, which expressly states that it is unknown whether or not it can prevent transmission.  That's the big cited reason for anyone older than a baby getting the vaccine...to prevent transmission.

Also, a scientist in the Netherlands (mentioned in the second link below) has discovered that a vaccine-resistant strain of the pertussis bacteria is spreading, which would explain why in recent cases, most to all people who got pertussis were vaccinated.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flong_island&id=8203711

http://www.watchdoginstitute.org/2010/12/13/whooping-cough-epidemic-california/

Are you ready for the punchline?  Both of my kids are up-to-date on DTaP. 

Do you know if that baby was vaccinated?  Was the case of pertussis laboratory-confirmed?  It's stories like this that made my opt for that vax.  Pertussis is a mean illness in little ones, and I didn't want to mess with it.  Thankfully, they haven't reacted to the vax, but I'm not sure that my decision to continue with this vaccine was completely rational.  DD just had her final dose.  If the vax doesn't prevent transmission, I'm not so sure that she needed it. 

I'm not much help to you, am I?  

[ma2two]

Research sodium ascorbate as a treatment for pertussis. I guarantee the baby who died was not given any sodium ascorbate, and certainly not the large doses used for pertussis treatment.

Only non-vaccinating parents and "alternative" doctors seem to know about sodium ascorbate as a treatment for pertussis. It's not something given at the hospital.

[hildare]

do you happen to know the circumstances around the death of the other child?  so sad. 

sometimes, though, the news will report things and leave out details.. like the child may have been ill from other things, or had other issues surrounding the pertussis.  there are lots of factors that sometimes get overlooked. 

for us, the non-daycare factor was one we really considered heavily while researching.  there's no guarantee that you won't have exposure, but you can eliminate some vaxxes like rotovirus, etc. 

you can still selectively vax if you decide you want some but not all. 

we really found the sears book to be a good resource for us, as he gives the likelihood of catching certain illnesses, etc.  and we did decide not to vax at all, but i think the delayed/selective/alternative sears schedules are all better plans than fully vaxing for things like chicken pox, etc. 

lots of people elect to do the dtap, i know, and if your first child didn't have a reaction, you can probably feel more comfortable if you do choose to do that one.

[jupitermama]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-K8Rhlw_c8 

Here is a link to the story that was on the news.  Apparently the infant was under 2 months old so he did not get the vaccine.  One article said that one or both parents caught it first and passed it to the baby.

What REALLY rubs me the wrong way about the video above is how they say that the disease is 100% preventable through vaccination...very misleading.  I wanted to wait until at least 6 months before I got my baby vaccinated, I will have to see if there are any more cases.  I went on the dept. of health website and according to that, there were a total of 4 cases in my zip code in the last 10 years, which is why I initally felt good about my decision.