Vaccinations/Immunizations / Whooping Cough Increases Despite All the Vaccinations

In the last 20 years, the number of cases of whooping cough increased overall in the US according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is caused by infection with the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. Symptoms of whooping cough include having a cough lasting 14 or more days accompanied by a gasping sound or "whoop" while coughing. Children may also vomit or have difficulty breathing during a coughing spell.

The number of pertussis cases has remained stable among children old enough to be vaccinated, but the increase in cases in children younger than 6 months indicates that "a true increase in pertussis circulation" has occurred.

From 1997 to 2000, over 7,000 pertussis cases among all age groups were reported each year in the US, compared with about 2,000 cases per year in the early 1980s.

Pertussis remains an endemic disease. Adolescents and adults likely play an important role in transmitting pertussis to very young infants.

Among the 29,000 persons with pertussis from 1997 to 2000 for whom ages were known, 29% were aged less than 1 year, 12% were aged 1 to 4 years, 10% were aged 5 to 9 years, 29% were aged 10 to 19 and 20% were 20 years or older.

Additional data collected by the National Health Interview Survey in 1998 suggest that 73% of children aged 7 to 18 months were vaccinated with three or more doses of acellular pertussis (DTaP), diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (DTP), or diphtheria tetanus toxoids (DT) vaccines.

Vaccine effectiveness was estimated at 88% in children aged 7 to 18 months, with approximately two thirds of the vaccinations being DTaP and one third being DTP.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report February 1, 2002;51:73-76