Whopping Numbers on Whooping Cough

[rangerrebew]

Whopping Numbers on Whooping Cough

By Len Canter

 

THURSDAY, Dec. 27, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- The return of measles made headlines in recent years, but it's not the only disease that poses a particular threat to kids that has experienced a resurgence.

Another is pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough because of the distinctive sound it causes as people experience severe coughing bouts.

An infection of the respiratory system, pertussis jumped from fewer than 2,000 cases in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s to more than 48,000 in 2012, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the number of cases is down from that peak, it's nowhere near the lows of earlier decades following the introduction of the pertussis vaccine.

https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20181227/whopping-numbers-on-whooping-cough

[RoosGirl]

Not that this is the reason for the increase in cases, but I have to wonder if the vax for pertussis is not effective for very long since it's a bacterial infection.  Most vaccines are for viral infections and typically we can't catch the same viral infection more than once, which is why vax for viral infections are effective for so long.