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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Crisstiana</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7270704"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Pertussis is caused by a bacterium: Bordatella pertussis<br><br>
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Hi, Kelli:<br><br>
Sounds scary. I hate using antibiotics as well, but it might be a consideration, especially for the baby. Here's some research to think over. Hope it helps.<br><br>
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From Medscape Today: <a href="http://japan.medscape.com/viewarticle/519699" target="_blank">CDC Revises Pertussis Guidelines</a><br><br>
Factors determining whether postexposure chemoprophylaxis is needed include infectiousness of the patient, intensity of exposure, potential consequences of severe pertussis in the contact, and possibilities for secondary exposure of persons at high risk from the contact, such as infants younger than 12 months. The benefits of reducing the risk for pertussis and its complications should be weighed against potential adverse effects. Postexposure prophylaxis can prevent symptomatic infection in asymptomatic household contacts if administered within 21 days of onset of cough in the index patient.<br><br>
Symptomatic, coughing household members of an index patient should be presumed to have pertussis. Because infants younger than 12 months, especially those younger than 4 months, can have severe and sometimes fatal complications from pertussis, postexposure prophylaxis should be administered in exposure settings that include infants younger than 12 months or pregnant women in the third trimester. For postexposure prophylaxis, the recommended antimicrobial agents and dosing regimens are the same as those for pertussis treatment.<br><br>
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From Johns Hopkins Medicine: <a href="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heic/ID/pertussis/" target="_blank">Pertussis</a><br><br>
- Pertussis is highly contagious; secondary attack rates may exceed 80% among susceptible household contacts.<br>
- Transmission occurs by direct contact with respiratory secretions or large aerosol droplets from the respiratory tract of infected persons, although it is rarely airborne.<br>
- The period of communicability starts with the onset of the catarrhal stage and extends into the paroxysmal stage.<br>
- In adults, 20-47% of those exposed to the disease develop infection.<br><br>
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From DrGreen.Org: <a href="http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&action=detail&ref=46" target="_blank">Fast Facts about Pertussis</a><br><br>
People who have been exposed to probable or confirmed pertussis should either receive a course of preventative antibiotics (and I say this as someone strongly opposed to the overuse of antibiotics), or be kept home from daycare, school, or work for at least 2 weeks.<br><br>
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From the CDC, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases: <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/pertussis_t.htm" target="_blank">Pertussis</a><br><br>
Like measles, pertussis is highly contagious with up to 90% of susceptible household contacts developing clinical disease following exposure to an index case.<br><br>
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From Orange County Public Health Services, Epidemiology and Assessment: <a href="http://www.ochealthinfo.com/epi/pertussis.htm" target="_blank">Pertussis, Disease Prevention<br></a><br><br>
Asymptomatic close contacts, including household contacts and others who have had face-to-face contact with a symptomatic suspect or confirmed case of pertussis, should receive prophylaxis for pertussis if within 21 days of cough onset in the index case<br><br>
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From Medscape Today: <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/549508_2" target="_blank">Pertussis, Epidemiology and Transmission of Disease</a><br><br>
Contact with infected adolescents and adults is a common source of B. pertussis infection in infants and unprotected, young children. Widespread silent transmission of pertussis within families has been reported.[20] In a study of risk factors for pertussis-related hospitalizations, siblings were the most common source (53%), followed by parents (20%), other relatives (12%), neighbors (8%), and day-care contacts (3%).[21] In a case-control study, infants of adolescent mothers (aged 15 to 19 years) were 6-fold more likely to contract pertussis, compared with infants of older mothers (aged 20 to 29 years)<br><br>
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From the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Communicable Disease Control and Prevention: <a href="http://www.sfcdcp.org/index.cfm?id=94" target="_blank">Pertussis (Whooping Cough)</a><br><br>
Persons who have had close contact with an infectious case of pertussis are recommended to receive antibiotic medication to prevent infection. Close contact is defined as sharing toys, food, or utensils, face-to-face contact, direct exposure to cough, sneeze, or secretions, or sharing a confined space for over one hour. Antibiotics are effective for prevention if begun within 3 weeks of the exposure to pertussis. The use of preventive antibiotics is especially important in families with young children and in childcare and healthcare workers who could transmit infection to vulnerable populations such as infants, the immunocompromised, and those with chronic lung diseases.</div>
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I second all the above. When I first read your subject line I was thinking someone in your family had just been exposed to pertussis and you were all supposed to take antibiotics. In a case like that, I'd say no way. We had that situation. A kid at my dd's preschool had it and the entire preschool was being prescribed antibiotics. My child wasn't even in the same classroom for goodness' sake. I didn't put her on antibiotics. But this is a different situation. If I had a young baby at home and an immediate household member sick with diagnosed pertussis, I would opt for the antibiotics. Understand, we rarely use antibiotics. But there are times when they are genuinely useful. I think sometimes people carry things to far in deciding that antibiotics are always bad. They're not. They're often misused and frequently have negative consequences b/c of misuse. But there are times when when appropriately used antibiotics are very helpful and even lifesaving. Your baby might not get pertussis. And even if he did, he might do fine. You could take a "wait and see" approach and give him antibiotics if he actually gets sick. But you can also greatly reduce the chances of him getting sick at all. If you decide not to do it, just keep a close watch for signs of developing the cough and fever and such, and have him checked sooner than you normally would if you thought it was just an ordinary cold.
