Doctors in Central Florida are reporting a surge in cases of respiratory infections at local clinics. Centra Care doctors in the Sand Lake area said there’s been a 200 percent increase in the past week. Conway’s Central Care clinic said cases at facility are up 600 percent during the last week.

Typical symptoms of respiratory infection include:

* A sore throat.

* Sneezing. * Nasal and ear congestion and watery eyes.

Posted: October 1st, 2008 under Diseases, Influenza, The Common Cold, Whooping Cough.
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Taipei, Taiwan’s Department of Health (DOH) confirmed this week the “first case” of whooping cough to be reported there this year.According to Lin Ting, deputy chief of the DOH Centers for Disease Control, the patient was a one-month-old baby boy who displayed the symptoms of intermittent coughing and wheezing on Feb. 27.  The diagnosis was reported as a suspected case of whooping cough when he was admitted to hospital on March 5. The boy’s condition stabilized after treatment.The youngster was not old enough to have been vaccinated and the DOH suspects he was infected by his mother, Lin said. “The mother had a cough during the Lunar New Year holiday in early February, but the patient’s father and six-year-old brother had no similar symptoms,” Lin added.Whooping cough generally affects infants in their first year, and the children can suffer complications such as pneumonia, which can be fatal.Children are usually given four shots of DPT — a three-in-one vaccine — to immunize against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus before they reach the age of 18 months. But, the DOH still finds about two dozen whooping cough cases every year.Immunity against whooping cough diminishes between five and 10 years after vaccination. The center has already purchased additional vaccine.”If everything goes well, first graders in elementary schools will be able to get the additional vaccines as early as September,” he said, noting that the whooping cough can be caught any time of the year, not just during the winter.– by Gene J. Koprowski, editorial director

A baby with whooping cough. Source: National Health Service, U.K.

Posted: March 27th, 2008 under Feature Stories, Whooping Cough.
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A new report released by the Ministry of Health indicates that there were more than 4.7 million cases of infectious diseases in China last year, up 2.95 percent from 2006. That’s nearly four in every 1,000 people.  The diseases killed 13,037 people, 2,311 more than the previous year.

According to the report, rabies was the “top killer” among the 37 leading diseases, claiming 2,873 lives last year.

Additionally, the report noted:

* Respiratory tract and blood-borne/sexually transmitted diseases rose by 3.55 and 6.96 percent, respectively.

* The number of HIV/AIDS cases reported increased 45 percent year-on-year.

* The number of hepatitis C cases was up 30 percent, and syphilis cases up 24 percent on last year, according to the report.

The report indicates that four human cases of bird flu were reported last year resulting in two deaths. In 2006, there were eight fatalities from 12 cases.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, director of scientific communications

For more information, go to,

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-02/23/content_6478813.htm

AIDS awareness poster — China.

Posted: February 29th, 2008 under Avian Flu, Feature Stories, HIV, Influenza, MRSA, Measles, Pneumonia, Rubella, SARS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough.
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Physicians say that whooping cough is continuing its dramatic comeback all across the country, but is especially widespread in the West and Mid-South.

Even those who think they are safe may even pass the illness on to the weak. Up to 20 babies in the U.S. die each year from the disease, doctors are warning.

“The degree to which the whooping cough germ is in a community and is being carried from one person to another is still part of what we don’t exactly know about the bug,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. William Schaffner, in an interview with a Nashville TV station.

There is a booster shot for adolescents and adults for whooping cough, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 2 percent of adults have had the shot since it came to market in 2006.

Experts added that:

* The best way to prevent pertussis is for everyone to be protected and immune.
* The booster for whooping cough has been added to the booster for tetanus and diphtheria.
* Doctors recommend getting the shot every decade.

The state health department in Tennessee is offering a new triple booster combo called T-Dap.

– by The Editors

For more information, go to,

http://www.wsmv.com/health/15367326/detail.html

 

A sign of the times. Whooping cough makes a comeback.

Posted: February 25th, 2008 under Whooping Cough.
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Cases of whooping cough have been steadily on the rise in the U.S. since a low of about 1,000 cases in 1976, and in 2004, the latest year for which data are available, more than 25,000 cases were reported, the largest number since the 1950s, according to a press report.

Most cases of whooping cough in the U.S. today are diagnosed in adults, said Dr. W. Paul McKinney, associate dean of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville. He’s also a former staff member of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and serves on the agency’s advisory committee on immunizations.

“It gets misdiagnosed an awful lot in adults” because families and physicians aren’t thinking about whooping cough in grown-ups, McKinney added. “I think there is confusion about what it looks like in adults and the severity of the diseases, how disruptive it is to individuals and families, and how it impairs performance.”

McKinney noted differences in the response to the infection depending on the age of the patient.

“Classical whooping cough is a disease of young infants that can cause them brain injury and neurological injury. The respiratory gasp for breath that makes the whooping noise can mean not enough oxygen is getting into the blood,” he said. Low oxygen content in blood can damage the brain.

The pattern in adolescents and adults differs. “They will have a protracted, hacking cough that may or may not be productive that goes on for a month or six weeks, interfering with sleep. It can cause broken ribs,” McKinney explained. “It can cause pneumonia.”

Other public health problems:

* The whooping cough vaccine you receive as a child wears off about age 11.
* Adolescents and adults can get the disease and cause outbreaks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 2% of adults ages 18 to 64 got a booster shot for whooping cough in the two years since the vaccine hit the market.  The combo whooping cough booster, called Tdap, should be given every 10 years, doctors say.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

For more information, see,

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20080207&Category=FEATURES03&ArtNo=802070318&SectionCat=FEATURES&Template=printart

Pathogenesis of whooping cough — known in medicine as Bordetella pertussis.

Posted: February 11th, 2008 under Feature Stories, Whooping Cough.
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New findings released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  indicate that the majority of adult Americans lack awareness of vaccines, and are at risk for serious infectious diseases.An expert panel discussed the data at a press conference held by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), which is calling for “increased use of vaccines in adults to reduce needless, illness, and deaths associated with infectious diseases.”Other pertinent points of the survey are as follows: * The survey shows only 2.1% of adults 18 to 64 years of age are immunized against tetanus-diphtheria-whooping cough.* Immunization to prevent shingles among people 60 and over was only 1.9%. Vaccine coverage for the prevention of HPV — human papillomavirus — among women 18 to 26 is about 10%”Routine immunization of children in the U.S. has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and prevented millions of cases of disease, but vaccines are not just for children,” says Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “These new data show there are not yet very many adults taking full advantage of the great advancements in prevention that have been made in the past few years.”We understand there are now 17 diseases that can be prevented from vaccines given to children, teens, and adults. Several vaccines, including three fairly new ones licensed since 2005, are recommended specifically for the adult years. Immunization is recommended for U.S. adults to protect them against chickenpox, diphtheria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, human papillomavirus/cervical cancer (HPV), influenza, measles, meningococcal disease, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumococcal disease, rubella, shingles, and tetanus. We also recommend that adults use effective infection control methods — gloves, masks — at home to prevent the spread of these diseases.– The Editors

Kids are not the only ones at risk for chicken pox — adults are too.

Image source: National Library of Medicine.

Posted: January 23rd, 2008 under Hepatitis, Influenza, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Whooping Cough.
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 WSPA-TV in South Carolina reports: School officials say there are 12 confirmed cases of whooping cough at Bob Jones University.  The school had estimated about 30-40-cases but after students were tested it only turned out to be a dozen.  The school decided to end its semester early because of the outbreak.  The semester ends on Friday.  Major holiday events at the school were also canceled. A total of 158 students were evaluated and the school is telling every student to get immunized before they come back from Christmas break.

See,  http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2007-12-07-0010.html 

Whooping cough is an awful disease. The symptoms include violent attacks of coughing, followed by vomiting. The “whooping” sound comes when the patient inhales after a coughing fit. An outbreak like this in S.C. is not uncommon. A 2005 report in the New England Journal of Medicine indicated that there are 1 million cases of whooping cough a year in the U.S. among adolescents. Apparently, the childhood vaccination against the disease wears off by one’s teenage years.  Personal infection protection — sanitation, hand-washing — is essential for all students at every college campus in the U.S. to avoid this dread affliction.   – The Editors

Posted: December 8th, 2007 under Infection Protection, News, Whooping Cough.
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