Did you know that an old scourge that once claimed as many as 9,000 lives a year is making a comeback in this country, and adolescents and adults are at risk? Once thought of as a childhood disease, whooping cough now affects mainly teens and adults, but a new study finds that routine vaccination of these groups may offer protection and prevent the spread of this potentially deadly disease to infants.
Most children are protected against pertussis or whooping cough with a series of vaccinations starting at 2 months of age. But this protection diminishes over time, leaving adolescents and adults vulnerable to the disease. They can spread pertussis to unimmunized or partially immunized children, who are at risk for serious complications and death. But a study in the journal of the american medical association reports that a vaccine currently in review by the FDA, Adacel(TM) Vaccine, may help prevent whooping cough in these groups and stop its spread. Dr. Michael Pichichero with University of Rochester School of Medicine:
"Vaccination with this new vaccine of adolescents and adults has major public health implication, because it could control the disease in the teens and adults, and prevent contagiousness to infants who often become very seriously ill even get hospitalized and occasionally die." If approved, Adacel(TM) would extend whooping cough protection up to age 64.
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