Posted on 08/17/2004 7:49:36 PM PDT by formercalifornian
BISMARCK, N.D.
The number of whooping cough cases diagnosed in North Dakota since late June is at 497, state health officials said Tuesday.
About half of the cases are in Ward County. Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were brought to Minot last week to consult with health care providers and gather data on the whooping cough outbreak there.
The rest of the North Dakota cases are spread over 24 other counties.
The Health Department said Burleigh County reports 51 cases, Cass County 33 and Grand Forks County 28.
Benson and McLean County each have 19 cases, McHenry has 14, and other counties have 10 or fewer cases.
Whooping cough generally is not fatal, though vulnerable adults and children are more at risk. Health officials recommend frequent hand washing, and vaccine for children under 7.
I am a displaced North Dakotan (currently in Kansas), but my father in law is in Minot. There are cases all over the place with no end in immediate sight. Luckilly, Minot is one of the larger towns in the state so while it isn't as big as the cities on the eastern side of the state, it at least has a hospital. I am just glad it was Minot which is much better than if it hit the rural areas that have no real system to handle it.
This is the result of people choosing not to vaccinate their children. Once the percentage of people immunized drops below a certain level, outbreaks like this are bound to occur.
I'm wondering how many additional folks in South Dakota never even saw the doctor.
oops. I meant to mention we're all the way in Philadelphia.
Next question. Why are they showing up there?
Tuberculosis, too? How many illegals in the area? They bring numerous diseases in with them.
Does every health department have to track whooping cough? I'm wondering how this compares to rates around the nation.
Pertussis (whooping cough) is most dangerous to infants and the vaccine has been highly successful. Pertussis Vaccine.
That is strange. They've been trying new strains (see my link in 8) and I wonder what's happening.
Is Pertussis the main disease of the DPT vaccine that causes reaction the most? It isn't tetanus, but I can never remember whether it is diptheria or pertussis.
I hope, then, that it doesn't spread. Do you know if vaccines are required in North Dakota before public school attendance?
How many of these cases are among *immunized* children? When we had an outbreak in St. Louis some years ago, about half the cases were in immunized kids.
That is what I'd like to know, too. Why? I didn't think immigration was a common occurance in North Dakota. Not a lot of it here in South Dakota. Too cold.
I can't believe these could all be non-immunized kids. Could the vaccine protection wear off after a while?
A few children being missed for legitimate reasons is no big deal. As long as the substantial majority of children get vaccinated, the entire population is largely protected, because the numbers who could get and spread the disease are so low. The term I've seen used is "herd immunity".
The problem comes in when Soccermom decides that vaccines are evil, and refuses to allow them for Muffy and Kip. Then talks all her friends into going along with it.
Recently, there was an outbreak of polio in Africa, because parents feared the evil effects of immunizations. The mindset of the anti-vaccine crowd in the U.S. is, unfortunately, not much different.
I am still looking for the N.D. stats. No one knows how long it protects the vaccinated? That is interesting to know. We may start to find out if this keeps spreading.
Refusing immunizations has become more and more common. From this article (a .pdf document converted by Google into HTML format):
"BUCKING THE HERD" - PARENTS WHO REFUSE VACCINATION OF THEIR CHILDREN MAY PUT ENTIRE COMMUNITIES AT RISK
The more vaccinated people there are, the safer it is for an unvaccinated person. Consequently when vaccination rates drop, disease returns. Recent cases of endemic disease in the USA and in Germany clearly illustrate the consequences of failing to vaccinate a community. In Boulder, Colorado, the cases of childhood pertussis (whooping cough) have increased significantly. Boulder has the lowest schoolwide vaccination rate in the State and has one of the highest rates of pertussis in the nation, with an average of 81 cases a year since 1993.
Parents have avoided one of the vaccines, against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, which has resulted in a revival of this toxin-based disease, whooping cough, which causes inflammation of the airway and a debilitating cough.
Another recent example exists in Coburg, Germany. The town has a population of 44,000, and only a 50% vaccination coverage due to parental refusal to use the MMR vaccine. This resulted in a severe measles outbreak in schools, with 700 children infected and 30 hospitalised with severe infections
I know that the victims have been all over the spectrum as far as age goes, but the concern is obviously the kids. From my understanding it isn't nearly as dangerous for healthy adults...
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