Whooping Cough Cases Reach 30-Year High in California

[CAL/AAEM News Service]

Whooping Cough Cases Reach 30-Year High in California

Source: California Healthline (http://www.californiahealthline.org)
Date: December 14, 2005
 

The number of pertussis, or whooping cough, cases in California is at its
highest point in 30 years, with about three times the number of cases reported
last year being reported this year, the Los Angeles Times reports. The
Department of Health Services said doctors have reported 2,169 pertussis cases
statewide -- including seven infant deaths -- as of the end of November.

Katrina Kretsinger, a medical epidemiologist with CDC's National Immunization
Program, said pertussis is "the most poorly controlled disease among all the
diseases for which there has been a vaccine available for some period of time."

Some children remain vulnerable to the disease because they do not receive all
recommended vaccines. Other children's immunity to the disease might wear off
during adolescence.

Federal health officials this year began recommending pertussis booster shots
for teenagers and adults (Chong, Los Angeles Times, 12/14).

For more information, please visit: 
http://www.californiahealthline.org/index.cfm?action=dspItem&itemID=117634&changedID=117537



Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service
University of California, Irvine

The CAL/AAEM Archives are available at: http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/calaaem/



		
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