Published Date: 2012-12-27 15:49:49
Subject: PRO/EDR Pertussis – UK (04)
Archive Number: 20121227.1470809
PERTUSSIS – UK (04)
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A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Sun 23 Dec 2012
Source: The West Side Story [edited]
http://www.thewestsidestory.net/2012/12/23/whooping-cough-outbreak-continues-in-uk/
In the United Kingdom, the largest outbreak in 20 years of whooping cough is taking place. However, experts announced that cases have fallen off slightly. In November 2012, new recorded cases dropped for the 1st time in the past 18 months, but medical experts have warned that whooping cough does generally die down during the winter months, and that could mean there still has not been a peak in the outbreak.
Figures from the Health Protection Agency show 1080 new whooping cough cases in November 2012, compared to more than 1600 during October 2012. Thus far for the year [2012], there have been over 8800 cases of whopping cough, the highest in one year since the early 1990s.
Overall, 14 babies have died from the disease because they were too young to be completely vaccinated, but no deaths were reported in November 2012. Other data show that hospital admissions for the disease in young children have increased steeply over the past month.
In August of 2011, 22 children younger than 5 years of age had to be admitted to a hospital in England for whopping cough. During August 2012, that number increased to 127 children being admitted for the disease to hospitals in England.
In the beginning of September 2012, an announcement was made by the Health Department that said pregnant women would be given whopping cough vaccinations to help protect their newborns, who usually do not have vaccinations against the disease until the age of 2 months.
[Byline: Jamie Hacking]
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap alerts
promed@promedmail.org
[Pertussis has been on the increase throughout most of the world. This has been attributed in part to increased virulence and other genetic changes in the circulating clones of _Bordetella pertussis_, as well as waning or an ineffective immune response after vaccination. For a discussion of these problems, see moderator LL's comments in prior ProMED-mail posts on pertussis.
Provisional data indicate that more than 39 000 cases of pertussis were reported to the United States CDC in 2012. The incidence rate of pertussis among infants exceeds that of all other age groups, and the majority of deaths continue to occur among infants younger than 3 months of age. Because much of the morbidity and mortality from pertussis is in infants less than one year of age, especially less than 6 months, who are not as yet protected by active immunization, the CDC recommends "cocooning," a vaccination strategy that aims to protect infants from becoming infected with pertussis by vaccinating individuals who would come into regular contact with the newborn infant. This includes booster immunization of any relatives involved with the infant's care and, most importantly, making sure that the pregnant mother has received Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine during the 2nd or 3rd trimester to provide transplacental protection if she has not been boosted in recent years (http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/outbreaks.html).
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/1lNY. - Mod.ML]
See Also
Pertussis – UK (03) 20120710.1196457
Pertussis – New Zealand (03): update 20120706.1190855
Pertussis – Argentina (03): (MZ) 20120703.1188519
Pertussis – UK (02): background 20120608.1161130
Pertussis – UK 20120607.1159983
Pertussis – New Zealand (02): background 20120606.1158351
Pertussis – New Zealand: (Auckland) 20120605.1157147
Pertussis – Australia (04): newly emerging clones, discussion 20120322.1078115
Pertussis – Australia (03): newly emerging clones 20120321.1076103
Pertussis – Australia (02): (QL) 20120316.1071497
Pertussis – Canada: (BC) 20120229.1055490
Pertussis – Australia: (WA) 20120111.1007036
2011
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Pertussis, fatal – Chile: (BI) 20111206.3541
Pertussis – New Zealand 20111030.3227
2010
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Pertussis – Australia: (QL) 20101021.3809
Pertussis – New Zealand: (CA) 20100626.2133
Pertussis – Congo DR: (KO) 20100428.1372
2009
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Pertussis – Australia (02): (SA) 20091108.3876
Pertussis – Australia: (SA) 20091107.3842
Undiagnosed resp. deaths – Nicaragua: (JI), pertussis, susp., RFI 20090404.1306
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Article source: http://healthmap.org/ln.php?1470809&promed&0