Pertussis question and (unrelated) autism question

[NYCVeg]

Totally separate things, but I'm getting slightly embarrased by my post count.

First, and easiest: isn't the season for pertussis late summer/early fall? That is, pertussis "season" and flu season don't overlap, right?

Second: I'm wondering if anyone has tracked the diagnosis patterns of autism in the last few years. I'm wondering if, now that large amounts of thimerosol are gone from most vaxes, the rate of the disease has gone down among babies/toddlers? Or is it just impossible to know, since enough kids are still getting flu shots or shots with traces of thimerosol and who knows how much/what could trigger autism? Theoretically, though, one would think that would be fewer cases since the reduction/elimination of mercury in various vaxes, if there is a link between autism and mercury (I haven't read enough about it to say that I definitively think there is, although it intuitively makes sense to me that toxic heavy metals trigger neurological and/or autoimmune disorders).

[alegna]

first- correct.

Second- no one really keeps stats. They do surveys now and then, but autism isn't a reportable disease.... so there aren't really good stats on it.

-Angela

[NYCVeg]

Originally Posted by alegna

first- correct.

Second- no one really keeps stats. They do surveys now and then, but autism isn't a reportable disease.... so there aren't really good stats on it.

-Angela

I do see numbers quoted all the time. Newsweek just had a big article on autism and said something like "It used to be one in [semi-large number] of kids diagnosed, now 1 in [166?] kids has autism." Where do they get those numbers from? (Probably the same place where the vax manufacturers get their efficacy numbers, eh?)

[alegna]

Some survey they ran. The thing with autism is that the diagnosis is subjective AND they don't have to report it to anyone AND any number of different professionals can diagnose it.

They may be getting stats from a survey of peds. Or a survey of schools. Or a survey of family practice drs. Or a survey or parents.... you get the idea...

-Angela

[Deborah]

At the same time the thimerosal went out of the official baby schedule several things happened:

an autism awareness drive to increase diagnosis

flu vaccine was recommended for pregnant women

flu vaccine was recommended for babies and toddlers

All three moves would tend to blur the stats (which weren't very reliable to begin with)

Plus, about two days after thimerosal was supposed to be out, you had official people on the radio saying stuff about how the numbers hadn't gone down, so you see it ain't the mercury after all. More blurring and obfuscation.

[4daughters]

Pertussis answer is yes, my kids had it this past summer --I have to say that the cough lasted through early October although it wasn't severe at this point.

Don't really know about Autism, although I did read something about it in one of the vaccinations threads.

[2busy2clean]

First, and easiest: isn't the season for pertussis late summer/early fall? That is, pertussis "season" and flu season don't overlap, right?

We caught the pertussis bug in mid January and had it in the house until March.
Is there a penalty for hunting out of season?

[mom0810]

I'm wondering this, too, as i am in Illinois, where there is currently a pertussis "outbreak"-- something like 30 kids at New Trier highschool and 470 cases statewide. I was wondering this morning, since it is the 100 day cough... if these kids caught it in early fall and still have it, or is it still actively being spread? I thought we would really not have to worry about it now...

[mamakay]

Pertussis comes in 3-5 year cycles, and according to something I read a few weeks ago from Canada, (I'll find that if anyone's curious) this is an epidemic year for probably all of North America.
So that means it's going to just be everywhere all year.

[4daughters]

Originally Posted by mamakay

Pertussis comes in 3-5 year cycles, and according to something I read a few weeks ago from Canada, (I'll find that if anyone's curious) this is an epidemic year for probably all of North America.
So that means it's going to just be everywhere all year.

Interesting, didnt know that 3-5 year cycle Thanks. We definately had it my kids, my nephew and I think my parents even had it, but they don't believe me.

[ju-cee]

Hi,

Pertussis can start late summer, early fall and can be seen
thru early spring...tends to run concurrent w/RSV and is often
mis-diagnosed as RSV...b/c both can have horrible, long lasting
[months] coughs....patients need cultures to r/o one vs. the other
Pertussis responds to antibiotics, RSV does NOT. unless there's an
underlying bacterial infection.

makes one wonder how good these vaccines are???????? :

[DQMama]

There's definitely no way to know about the thimerisol. I can't tell you how many pregnant friends have gotten flu shots this year. So even if their kiddos get low-thimerisol vaxes they've still gotten the toxin through the placenta.

[MammaV]

My DD has neurological damage from vaccines. In addition to the mercury, the aluminum, msg, antifreeze and formeldahyde (sp?) all crossed the blood brain barrier causing neurological injury. I think it would be more accurate to diagnose more kids with vaccine induced neurological damage than ASD. DD is no longer on the spectrum, but still has some damage.

[wytchywoman]

My younger DS has autism and was diagnosed with it at age 3. At age 5 his dad and I made the unwiiting mistake of having him get a flu shot because he had suffered so much from asthma the past 2 years and we thought it might help. We requested a thimerosal free vaccine and were told he was not eligible because he did not have a life threatening disease. That was November of 2005. By February of 2006 he had regressed so badly that he was incapable of speech and was totally in his own little world ( prior to the vax he had been a very mild PDD, very high functioning, mild speech delay).
Needless to say I blame the flu shot for his regression. The medical community will probably never take the blame for the damage these shots cause, because they would be sued and consequently owned by millions of parents world wide whose kids have suffered vax damage. As for the thimerosal free vaxs, they have replaced the mercury with aluminum and formaldehyde, so I believe it will only be a matter of time before we see autism spikes in the population again. They have replaced one poison with another. There is also TONS of mercury in the environment, far more so than in any of these shots, so even if a kid never gets vax'd at all they could still run the chance of being poisoned by mercury just from breathing the air or being exposed to the water.

Namaste,

Michelle