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So my husband was reading in the paper today about an outbreak of whooping cough in our area...I was surprised to hear that since I thought it was uncommon...Anyways...my 2 girls are in private school and the little one came home with a note that her class has a child in there that tested positive to whooping cough.

 

And I have one child here that has been home going on her 3rd week with stomach pains and slight cold symptoms. We thought her cough was reflux but makes me wonder if it will get worse. Now Im sneezing and stuffy. Yuck. It figures...I have to stop my hypochondriac mind.

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Are your kids vaccinated? (You don't have to answer.) But, that could give them some protection.

 

Two of my kids had whooping cough last summer. It did start with cold symptoms, but by the third week, it was obvious we had something WAY more than that!! The coughing was causing them to vomit. It was horrible. (And, yes, my kids were vaccinated. Dd hadn't had her 5 yo round yet.)

 

There have been a lot of outbreaks around the country. I think we caught ours from a child on my ds' baseball team. His mom had it too.

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My vaccinated kids caught whooping cough...

It was horrible. The quicker it is treated, the less permanent damage, and the lesser the duration. Back when my kids had it, doctors thought it was eradicated and wouldn't believe me when I said I thought it was actually pertussis! It took a bit of convincing:glare:

 

If you suspect pertussis, get it checked. They can culture quickly....

 

Faithe

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yeah, we watched it run through at least two private schools that I know of- one was our church private school, the other a private school friends from this church had their kids at. The kids were all vaccinated. My friend is a nurse. We were at dinner one night when she starts telling us her kid stayed home from an activity because he had been coughing so hard the last 4 weeks that he would throw up, so he stayed home from this activity. I look at him, hacking away at the table across from my kids.

 

we went home right away. My kids at the time were not vaccinated, but are now. It amazed me that this was running rampant and nothing was thought of it because the kids were all vaccinated so it couldn't be whooping cough. It did come out in the news months later that our county was having it run rampant.

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Several kids around here had it a few months ago, and for the last few years we have had a few cases crop up, but never a huge outbreak. I got my kids boosters of the shot, because I the thought of them being so sick and unable to go anywhere for weeks makes me sad for them. The all like to get out of the house nearly daily, so it would be a very long few weeks lol.

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So my husband was reading in the paper today about an outbreak of whooping cough in our area...I was surprised to hear that since I thought it was uncommon...Anyways...my 2 girls are in private school and the little one came home with a note that her class has a child in there that tested positive to whooping cough.

 

And I have one child here that has been home going on her 3rd week with stomach pains and slight cold symptoms. We thought her cough was reflux but makes me wonder if it will get worse. Now Im sneezing and stuffy. Yuck. It figures...I have to stop my hypochondriac mind.

 

 

Whooping cough is NOT subtle. If your kiddos (or you) have it...you will know. It is not called the "hundred day cough" for nothing.

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Be aware that there is no lifetime immunity to pertussis. Not from the vaccine and not from contracting it. Both wear off over time, which is why there is a campaign to give adult booster shots along with tetanus boosters now.

 

My oldest daughter had it when she was 3 months old, which was scary. I hope people start realizing how serious it can be.

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Yes...mine have all vaccines. My 11 yo will be due again this summer I was told. I actually called to get the vaccine on Tuesday...but I came down with a cold...not sure if they will still give it to me.

 

It isnt a huge outbreak...I guess just a few cases but I read the vaccine is not 100% closer to 60%.

 

Fun FUn Fun.

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Be aware that there is no lifetime immunity to pertussis. Not from the vaccine and not from contracting it. Both wear off over time, which is why there is a campaign to give adult booster shots along with tetanus boosters now.

.

 

Our State Dept of Health sent out letters to all health care facilities reminding people to get a booster (anyone over 12 and under 65). Typically there are 100 cases in my state by the end of March and this year there were 600. The thought is that there may not be more actual cases but rather more diagnoses of pertussis since the doctors are actually looking for it now. You know those people who have those nasty, persistent coughs that last for months.... Yeah, those were probably cases of whooping cough that were just never diagnosed because it often appears that way vs. the actual "whooping cough" in adults.

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In my area there were several smaller scale outbreaks in schools. In several of the schools the news pieces mentioned all of those infected had been fully vaccinated. In the one case where they traced it back to a non vaccinated person, it was a teacher in the school.

 

It is possible to have a subclinical case I believe. I think the CDC refers to these people as "asymptomatic reservoirs" or something like that.

 

In older children and adults, I thought it was also possible for it to present more like a lingering cough, sometimes misdiagnosed as "atypical bronchitis" or something similar. It doesn't always present with the whoop or with the same intensity many people assume it would present with. That's been my impression from reading about it through the years.

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