Whooping cough danger for unvaccinated

Children who are not vaccinated are 23 times more likely to get whooping cough than those who have received the full course of childhood vaccines, a new study has found.

Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable, violent coughing and can be fatal in infants.

Children have been vaccinated against whooping cough in Ireland for many years, currently under the six-in-one system provided by GPs starting at two months old.

The latest immunisation figures in Ireland showed that 94% of two-year-old children are immunised for the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTP) vaccine, and 90% for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

However, there are still a small number of parents who refuse to immunise their children.

“This study helps dispel one of the commonly held beliefs among vaccine-refusing parents: that their children are not at risk for vaccine preventable diseases,” the researchers said.

“It also shows that the decision to refuse immunisations could have important ramifications for the health of the entire community. Based on our analysis, we found that one in 10 additional whooping cough infections could have been prevented by immunisation.”

The study will appear in the June 2009 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

For more information go to irishhealth.com’s child immunisation tracker,
click on https://www.irishhealth.com/cvt/mainnew.html

[Posted: Tue 26/05/2009]