Whooping cough cases may hit 50-year high


Aug. 04--With whooping cough on the rise in Ventura County and on pace for a 50-year high across California, public health officials are ratcheting up efforts to protect the newborns who are most at danger.

As of Monday, 58 cases of the illness officially known as pertussis had been reported this year to the Ventura County Department of Public Health. That's the same number as in all of 2009 when the surge began. In 2008, there were 18 cases.

Across California, 2,174 cases have been reported this year -- more than six times the 349 cases reported for the same time period in 2009.

Statewide, seven deaths have been reported, all involving infants younger than three months. The cases in Ventura County have involved all ages and, in some instances, have brought hospitalizations. There have been no deaths, according to local health officials.

In an effort to control the spread, doctors are urging people in constant contact with infants or pregnant women, including family members, caregivers and healthcare workers, to make sure they've received a booster vaccine. Hospitals and pediatrics offices are also vaccinating mothers of newborns and referring other family members to public health clinics for their shots.

"We'll basically build a cocoon around these children," said Ventura County Public Health Officer Robert Levin, noting cases in the county show no signs of abating.

"It should be zero," he said. "The reason we see more than zero is because ultimately there are parents in the county who distrust vaccine."

Levin urged parents to make sure their children have all required vaccinations and noted the medicines have been studied and pronounced safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

County public health officials are discussing the possibility of holding a mass vaccination clinic for whooping cough but have not yet made a decision. Vaccine is available at many but not all private and public clinics. The shots are also available at public health clinics in Ventura, Oxnard and Simi Valley.

Pertussis is a communicable disease marked by spasms of coughing followed by inhaled breath that can make a "whoop" sound. Infants usually start their five-shot immunization course at 2 months.

The affects of the vaccination wear off over several years. State health officials recommend booster shots for everyone 10 years of age and older, especially for people in contact with pregnant women and children. They also recommend a booster for children 7 to 9, who did not receive all their routine childhood shots.

Doctors and administrators at clinics across Ventura County reported very few confirmed cases of pertussis but said media attention on the illness had increased the demand for vaccinations.

"We've had requests from the elderly," said Lynn Henriod, an administrator at Thousand Oaks Urgent Care. "Those are the ones ... who have been out of the ordinary."

In mid-July, the state expanded target groups for the booster shots, including people who are 65 or older.

Though the demand for the vaccination is rising, it is only a fraction of the surge created by fear about swine flu. Public health officers say they want the highest at-risk groups to protect themselves, but they don't want to create panic.

"I think we should be interested in getting the vaccine, but we shouldn't feel like we should be trampling over each other to get it," said Levin.

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