Whooping Cough Death - Page 3

[DarkHorseMama]

Jenn, Vanderbilt has found that 21% of adults presenting to their ER with a cough persisting more than two weeks have pertussis. One out of five adults....that is a significant number of incidents out there in the population. Granted, you've got to be pretty bad off to go to the ER for a cough, but those spasms are pretty scary, even for an adult. When I had it, my OB flat out told me that adults didn't get it and I didn't have the "whoop" anyway, so it must not be pertussis. Bull-hockey. I know what I had and I *know* that adults get it a lot AND most adults don't have the "whoop" sound. Heck, even my pedi knows that.

mothernuture: I have been thinking to contact my pedi to see if she can offer the website link to me about the Vandy study. I, too, would like to know a bit more about what is going on with that program.

[DarkHorseMama]

Did some digging and found what is, I presume, to be the title of the study:

Infant Cell Mediated Immune Responses to Pertussis

I have sent an email to the contact researcher and will let you all know if I hear back from her. Still planning to check with my pedi for more information, too.

[Aquaduct]

Why the under-reporting and reluctance to diagnose? Well JenniferH, I think it's because most of those adults who get whooping cough have been fully vaxed. That is they've had at least 3 or 4 shots of the pertussis shot, and yet they have not been immunised for life. For health authorities to admit that whooping cough is widespread amongst adults and teenagers would be too much, for the following reasons:


1)It would take away credibilty from the shot. People would realize it doesn't give lifelong immunity no matter how many boosters you have.

2)They couldn't use the guilt-tripping dishonest argument of herd-immunity on parents anymore to help pressure them into having their babies vaccinated. Parents could turn around and say, "But hey, even if 100% of all kids got their 5 shots, there are still millions of adults acting as a reservoir for the bacterium."

3) If it got out that heaps of adults are getting whooping cough, then a lot of them would want to have the shot themselves. In their hearts the powers-that-be realize this would unfortunately mean these adults would personally experience the side-effects of the shot, especially if they have all the booster shots. This would make them ask why they can't sue, and horrify them that they let their kids have them. Once again, the shot would lose credibility.

4) A lot of these adults would realise, if they got diagnosed with w.c., that it is often quite mild, not as scary as it is made out to be. They'd realise they'd got the cough very recently from their child who'd had a funny cough for some weeks, DESPITE being vaxed multiple times!

[Xenogenesis]

Originally Posted by Dmitrizmom

from what I've read (FWIW, I can't remember where)... Babies born by c/s without a trial of labor are more likely to have respiratory issues in their first year. The compressions of contractions help to clear amniotic fluid from the lungs during labor and prepare the lungs for air. If you start with a respiratory system compromised in such a manner, it might make a difference in the baby's ability to handle diseases that affect the respiratory tract... just a thought...

and no.. I'm not slamming c/s. some are necessary and I acknowlege that... just keeping in mind that there are ramifications (as there can be with vaginal delivery as well).

"A Good Birth, A Safe Birth" by Diana Korte and Roberta M. Scaer talks about this and how the endorphins during the labour are involved. The "specialist" I had to ask for permission to have a trial of labour said she had never heard of such ludicrousness amongst the other <ahem> let's-just-go-ahead-and-cut-you-anyways keerap.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

[vanilla]

hey, thanks for bumping...this was a very interesting read for me

[FrederickMama]

yep........... if only i didn't have to sleep
i could be here all night

[CookAMH]

This was a fascinating thread!