The current acellular pertussis vaccine (included if you specify Tdap instead of Td for your tetanus and diptheria booster) fades quickly, and the pertussis bacteria appears to be mutating away from the current vaccine. The older whole cell vaccine had some significant adverse effects.
New pertussis vaccines are under development.
I actually just got my vaccine today. It’s been 10 years since my booster, so my doctor had me get it when I was there today. She said whooping cough is on the rise.
I think I got whooping cough several years ago. My vaccines were up to date (I had gotten a booster just a few years prior because D was young and getting vaxed so that motivated to get my boosters, too), so they never considered it as a possibility. But the symptoms seem to fit - horrific, horrific violent coughing fits. I went to the doctor so many times - I had chest x-rats, was put on antibiotics, given an inhaler, nothing, nothing helped at all and they had no idea what it could be: not bronchitis, not pneumonia, not anything they could figure out. And about 3 months later it just went away as suddenly as it came on. Whooping cough is the only thing I can think of that it could have been. But of course that’s just a guess.
My D recently had a baby. Their doctors said that anyone coming in contact with the infant before he was old enough to get vaccinated should have a tdap shot within the last 5 years. Makes sense to me.
This sounds very much what I had in Feb - April this year. I was hospitalized 3 days, then another overnight. Needed a nebulizer and inhalers. Negative for all viruses on the big virus panel including pertussis, no pneumonia, and negative for all 37 allergens on the allergy panel.
Scary coughing spasms. Came on quite suddenly while I was on a flight; I coughed all the way cross country. I’m terrified if it happens again. I always pack my neb machine when travelling even though I haven’t used it since April.
I have mentioned on this site before that my mother suffered terribly from having whooping cough as a child. She struggled with breathing for years and was susceptible to many pulmonary illnesses. I get so irritated when people don’t want their children vaccinated for pertussis. My mother sure wished the vaccine had been available when she was a child.
It seems like we have had certain diseases under control for long enough that people don’t remember (or never knew) how awful they were. My mom was a nurse in a polio ward. We grew up knowing how terrible polio was … and what a godsend the vaccine was. She was a huge proponent of vaccinations as they became available - she worked for a pediatrician after leaving hospital work. I find it sad that too many people don’t understand how vaccines have helped us.
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