Whooping Cough Outbreak Spreads On Long Island; More Than 200 Cases Reported

Health Officials: Early Detection, Antibiotic Treatment Are Keys To Better Health

November 29, 2011 11:58 PM

A woman is vaccinated against whooping cough (file / credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

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LINDENHURST, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – An alarming rise in a potentially fatal bacterial infection known as whooping cough has prompted a warning from the Suffolk County Health Department.

It’s a tell-tale sign winter is coming — children and their colds.

But what’s going around this year is a potentially fatal bacterial cough known as pertussis or whooping cough, reports CBS 2’s Emily Smith.

It’s a chronic cough, almost a barking sound, that can last more than three months, and it is spread easily through droplets.

“My wife is on a bus, educational bus, so she is with kids all the time every day. But she hasn’t been sick yet,” local resident Steven Piering said Tuesday.

WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs On The Story

The whooping cough outbreak started with 13 cases in Smithtown on Long Island in June. Since then it has spread to more than a dozen districts in Suffolk County.

The most recent case of whooping cough involves a student at 5th Avenue Elementary in Northport, where 11 cases have already been reported. On Tuesday night, parents told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez they are growing concerned.

“That’s kind of scary. I wonder what’s going on, why this outbreak started. What’s going on?” one resident asked.

“They get colds at home. They bring it on the bus. They bring it to school. They’re bringing it home,” a school bus driver told WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs.

And what’s particularly concerning to health officials is this most recent outbreak has the highest number of cases reported since 2006 when there were 110 for the year. Now it’s 216 cases of whooping cough for the year so far.

What’s causing this sudden and sharp rise in whooping cough has yet to be determined, said Dr. Dennis Russo with the Suffolk County Health Department. He said it might be as simple as more doctors are detecting and diagnosing it, or it could be an increase in some parents’ decision to forgo vaccinating their kids.

“We like to have everyone vaccinated and create a cocoon effect, so that everyone around them is vaccinated and the disease is milder,” Dr. Russo said.

“I’m not too concerned because my son has the vaccine,” added Maria Sangiorgi of Lindenhurst.

Health officials said early detection and antibiotic treatment are the keys to better health and preventing the spread of whooping cough.

The majority of the students who have been infected with whooping cough had been immunized, which health officials said may account for their milder illness.

Babies who are not yet fully immunized are the most at risk of death from the infection.

Have you or someone you know ever had whooping cough? What was it like? Please share your story in the comments section below.

Whooping Cough Outbreak Spreads On Long Island; More Than 200 Cases Reported

Carol

In 2000 my 4 week old son had a loud barking cough. It was not constant however but I did go to the doctor twice that week. She checked him and of course he didn’t cough while at her office. She could not find anything. The following day while in my arms he coughed and his body just went completely limp. I shook him very gently and he came around. At 1am I awoke to him coughing beside me. I checked and he was not breathing. Infants are too young to get their breadth back. When we got to the hospital there was a doctor from India there. As soon as she heard him, she knew what it was because she had heard it so often before. Up until recently most American doctors have never been in contact with it. Whooping cough can cause severe brain damage in a young baby or death. His DTP shot was not due for another month. When you look at your infant in an oxygen tent for 5 days on antibiotics, you thank God that the medicine is there. Our older son who does have his DPT vaccines got a very mild dose. Happy to say 11 years later he is a very healthy, happy boy.

mark

Wow…being the father of a 19 month old daughter, your story scares the bejeebus out of me. I feel your pain and panic just reading it…thankfully it turned out well…and is why my daughter is being fully vaccinated.
Scott Batten

To all people that think vaccines are not a good thing, READ THIS.

http://jabwatchdog.wordpress.com jabwatchdog

Yes please read this and know to stay away from those newly vaccinated

Alex

What a shock – article is careful to not mention the immigrant filth.

serenity

Hey Alex, You are a racist. Your attitude towards other human beings is VERY UNATTRACTIVE. And guess what,? This is an educated (Paralegal) middle class, catholic school girl (white), born and raised in america girl talking to you. Remember, Jesus Christ says very clearly in the bible that we will be judged on how we loved others. Guess what Jesus and God are not racist. as a matter of fact God made every human. Just because you may not choose to believe the Bible does not mean God is not holding YOU to it. Change your heart before it is too late. May the Lord be with you.

jdude

blah, blah, blah, Jesus also said to follow the laws of the land, something Mexicans clearly don’t understand!
LogicNotHuff

Jesus said that a kingdom divided cannot stand and all the Islamic and Mexican invaders are not here to become Americans, they are here as the advance troops for when they get their Bolshevik window. Immigration is now CANCELLED.
JoeG

serenity,
get the word RACIST out of your vocabulary. Alex is angry we have treasonous politicians that wont defend our borders. As a result, Americans are dying from diseases bought here by 3rd world migrants that are also a huge drain on American taxpayers. Our infrastructure is overburdened, quality of life due to overcrowding has nosedived, instead of open green areas we get more strip malls, apartments, and crime. So your whole argument relies on the meaningless word RACIST. If you want to be Jesus-like, sell everything you own and give away all your money to the 3rd world migrants. Obviously you haven’t, because you have a computer. You are a hypocrite. You are a valley girl that never had to live in a migrant neighborhood.

Timin Phoenix

You didn’t have to be so crude in the way you put it, but you are still essentially correct.
Jeff

Alex, You may want to check your facts before you spout. Immigrant hispanic populations have a high trust in modern medicine and boast very high immunization rates. It is generally the white middle/upper class that are forgoing vaccines for their children and raising the risk of spreading vaccine preventable diseases such as pertussis.

Dr. America

Wrong again Jeff.

Huh

What about the filth of parents not vaccinating their kids…

BadPenny

All I can say is anyone out there who refuses to vaccinate their children get exactly what they are asking for. Sure, they have a right to choose, but don’t whine and give me a sad story when your infant dies!

serenity

Quit judging people, the real truth is that vaccinations have been shown to cause autism. Go look at the stats and get your facts straight before you go calling people names with your mean spirit. The real truth is our government along with the pharm companies are money hungry, and corrupt. Just like big tabacco was lying and the government makes a killing off of tabacco tax. They own the media and make bad press about parents who are afraid to vaccinate because of the link to autism. Court cases have already been won concerning this issue.

Serenity Conspiracy Fool

Where’s my tin foil hat.

serenity

Come on dude. i am not being unreasonable. i have done my homework, you can too. educate yourself so that you can know the facts too. May the Lord be with you even in your ignorance. i will not be quarreling with you. i am only here to shine some light into darkness. the lord says “you will know them by their love”. I am not here to fight with anyone. hating on people is wrong period.

Shane Morris

That “autism” thing has been wholly debunked. You do YOUR homework. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960277,00.html

Howard

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20049118-10391695.html

Timin Phoenix

You are playing a part in your own little self-manufactured drama. Sort of like: “Tin Foil Hat Productions Presents!”
SlimShady

your information was done by one Dr.s’ flawed study 15 years ago. Thanks to Luddites like you, measles have come back, mumps, whooping cough and one that should terrify you if you have children is Polio. That word alone terrified parents until the Salk vaccine was developed but now it’s back. You are just sliming off the backs of responsible parents that did vaccinate their children, thinking you’d be safe. You had better hope that polio doesn’t cripple your kids because you were too ignorant or lazy to get them vaccinated.
Jeff

Anti-vaccinators are very foolish people. You have the luxury of being able to be ignorant (thanks to 100 years of vaccination in this country). How are you going to feel when your kid gets Polio, Measles etc?

Don’t make your kids pay for your ignorance.

Margaret Pickett O

Did you read the article? It states that the majority of students who came down with it, HAD been immunized.
Slim Pickens

My infant son almost died hours after recieveing a vacine. Can you show any scientific proof that vacines actually perform as suggested.

Just Asking

While I sympathize, can you show proof that the vaccine was the cause of death?

http://jabwatchdog.wordpress.com jabwatchdog

Can you show proof that it wasn’t?

joeseppie

Isnt diversity wonderful!!!!
Thanks to all the illegals in this country and their usefool tool moron liberals for enabling this crap!!! liberals and illegals suck!!!

serenity

you are a racist and a mean spirited person. no one can be happy while hating on others. what a pity.

Serenity Dingbat Hypocrite

Illegals are not a race you ignorant piece of slimy dog crap. You call him a racist, then try for the high road? HYPOCRITE!

Huh

I think I missed that part where it said illegals were responsible for this…

Madelaine

TrueBlue, Lisa B and Petey are the only ones who know what they are talking about, people. Whooping cough is HORRIBLE. I thought I was going to die when I caught it, source unknown since I had not been around any children and no one else I knew was ill. The DTP vaccine is one of the oldest, safest vaccinations we have, use it or the consequences may prove more than you and your children can bear.
Gene Franklin

Come On! Did you see what the public health doc said? He said if everyone were vaccinated the disease would be milder, not gone.

Three things people do not know about whooping cough and the vaccine.1) The old pertussis vax killed and maimed children but did give unaffected children immunity for about 12 years. After that, immunity wore off so many adults who had that vax are currently at risk. 2) The new DTAP is only effective to reduce the symptoms so many Doctors and public health officials are content to allow the bacteria to be spread as the real truth that it is only semi-effective would cause a reduction in vaccinations,3) Currently WC is mostly diagnosed as bronchitis and the wrong antibiotic given thus allowing those unvaccinated babies and older people to come in contact with the sometimes fatal disease.

I’m thankful for the doctors in this story who are aware enough to swab kids with an early cough thereby catching an outbreak and making people aware of the possibility; giving them a chance to isolate their little ones or get a booster for their older kids or themselves..

Tina in TX…fully vaccinated and mom to an autistic child who was gestated during my horrible bout with adult pertussis
Walter Billings

Was this not brought into the NY area by a Third Worlder? Along the Texas border with Mexico there has been a marked upswing in TB cases, Hepatitis, and menigitis.

BadPenny

Does it really matter where is came from when it came continue to come for all over…..or is it more important to know how to stop it from spreading or stop from getting it?

Alex

Yeah, stop immigration and you don’t have to worry about this along with crime and many other social ills that come with immigration.

Huh

But we still have to worry about the Jeffrey Dahmer’s and the Ted Bundy’s who are already here…

phillip mckann

“…it might be as simple as more doctors are detecting and diagnosing it, or it could be an increase in some parents’ decision to forgo vaccinating their kids…”

Dr. P. McKann, not interviewed for this story, adds: “It could also likely be the huge illegal immigrant population, but nobody has the nuts to say it. They’ll blame it on yuppie moms forging vaccinations instead. Ignore the elephant in the room.”
Chuck

Funny how the vaccine pushers can’t explain why the whipping cough vaccine doesn’t work.

TrueBlue

Vaccinations don’t prevent you from contracting, they only lower the chance you will get it and then produce a generally milder infection because you already have antibodies. The main reason vaccinations work to protect large populations is that if everyone is vaccinated it reduces the chances of someone contracting it in the first place. Once one person gets it the disease tends to gain strength, and repeated or prolonged exposure increases the chance of someone else catching it.

If vaccinations were as useless as some people claim we would not have nearly wiped out Small Pox in the civilized world. The only reason it exists at all anymore is because there are places that do not have access, or cannot afford, the vaccinations. That and they keep samples in the lab to continue to produce the vaccines from.

bobby

Bring in more illegal aliens we need more diseases we need more poverty we need more famine
doctor doctor

I have some serious reservations about vaccination. in fact what the article does not state is that there is an increase infection rate with those who are vaccinated with acellular pertusuis , the vaccine is not longer as affective, my guess is that the bacteria has mutated in a way such that the vaccine does nto fully immunize you to pertusis.
Lisa Brend

I got whooping cough in 2006, and after a month developed pneumonia. I was out of work for 2 months and it was over 4 months before I got my energy back and could walk up a flight of stairs without gasping for breath. I live in NC, do not have chiildren in school, and not sure where I contacted it from.
Massimo Deportado

Vaccines kill and maim more people than you think.

You trust the FDA? LOL sheeple…..

Diversity is perversity and the Japanese earthquake proved it.
Show me ONE report of looting. You can’t.

mark

I can. Read the link below:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/4421028-452/but-there-was-looting-in-japan.html

joey bag o’doughnuts

Can anyone say; illegal aliens? I remember when we were to visit family in Brazil, we had to get all sorts of shots and when people from Brazil came to visit here or family in Bermuda the same thing applied. I call like I see it.
BillYBoy

We need to pair this story with the Anti Vaccination crowd in the news this week. Maybe they can all go for a bus ride together.

serenity

Quit judging people, the real truth is that vaccinations have been shown to cause autism. Go look at the stats and get your facts straight before you go judging people with your mean spirit. The real truth is our government along with the pharm companies are money hungry, and corrupt. Just like big tabacco was lying and the government makes a killing off of tabacco tax. They own the media and make bad press about parents who are afraid to vaccinate because of the link to autism. Court cases have already been won concerning this issue. Jesus said love would run cold at the time near his return. what is up with all these people haters. what a small mind to think this way about other human beings. shame on you.

karl

No, they never have.

Autism has been definitively shown to be genetic in origin, morphological changes occur in utero through the first 6 months of development.

mark

On the short bus?

alan

Lets hear it for the liberal idiots who dont vaccinate their children. MORONS

serenity

Quit judging people, the real truth is that vaccinations have been shown to cause autism. Go look at the stats and get your facts straight before you go calling people names with your mean spirit. The real truth is our government along with the pharm companies are money hungry, and corrupt. Just like big tabacco was lying and the government makes a killing off of tabacco tax. They own the media and make bad press about parents who are afraid to vaccinate because of the link to autism. Court cases have already been won concerning this issue.
JCur

Let’s not judge all liberals together, I am a social liberal and I DO vaccinate my children. I understand some of the concern of folks who are afraid of vaccines, I still believe the benefit outweighs the risk. I also don’t buy into the autism link to vaccines, if the “science” linking vaccines and autism were true how do you explain vaccinated children who DON”T have autism and UN-vaccinated children who DO have autism . . . I believe autism begins during gestation and the most recent reliable science available supports that.

dave w

My 7 yr old granddaughter became a diabetic, type 1, within weeks of getting whooping cough in elementary school. Doctor/Specialist said there was a causal relationship.
petey

As a nurse for over 30yrs,this has to be one of the nastiest diseases for an infant.An infant who has pertussis, can go from the color pink to purple in a matter of seconds with the near strangulation on secretions and the inability to catch their breath from the cough.Get vaccinated!
Kristine K-Hassan

Some of the ignorant comments here don’t take into account how serious whooping cough is, especially to infants. This summer, myself, my husband and our then 5 week old infant son contracted whooping cough, The only member of our family who was unaffected was our 5 year old daughter because she is up to date on her immunizations. Our son spent a week in the hospital and we all coughed for over 3 months. Some babies die from it. Immunity from childhood vaccines can wear off (my husband and I were vaccinated as children), We are in Staten Island and haven’t been to Long Island in ages, so don’t think you’re safe if you live elsewhere. It is especially dangerous for infants, so anyone who is in contact with infants should receive a Tdap (tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis) booster.
raf

Whooping Cough is very bad. My wife’s co-worker got it and she was out sick for 8-12 weeks. Coughing until she vomited. If you notice LIRR no one covers their mouth when couging or sneezing. Personal Hygiene is job #1.

KL

It’s Long Island…what do you expect from those people

veenieviper

plumb island burped again
Huh

Always some drama happening on Long Island…geez
SFede

That’s because people are not vaccinating their children and diseases spread!

Otis

Can you back that up with scientific proof? I think not.

Peter

todays paper 1 in 20 not getting there shots !!!

Slim Pickens

Perhaps people are becoming enlightened by the dangers and bogus claims of big Pharma.

BadPenny

LOL seriously? I think more people are being enlightened to the dangers of not vaccinating their children, hence this article. Whooping cough was once unheard of, now it seems outbreaks everywhere. Do really think parents should putt ehir children through that? More infant die, I bet the liberals who don’t vaccinate will be the first to stand in line and then demand it be a law.

Huh

Yes, I can prove it…It’s because people are not vaccinating their children and diseases spread!

serenity

Quit judging people, the real truth is that vaccinations have been shown to cause autism. The real truth is our government along with the pharm companies are money hungry, and corrupt. Just like big tabacco was lying and the government makes a killing off of tabacco tax. They own the media and make bad press about parents who are afraid to vaccinate because of the link to autism. Court cases have already been won concerning this issue. as people are probably noticing by now i am countering almost every ignorant, mean spirited comment out there until i get my point accross. Stop hating on people. in case none of you are familiar with bible prophecy. it is going down now. Jesus said you overcome evil with good. love one another. we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but current dark rulers of this world. Do not be self deceived. Each person will give an account of themselves, not their neighbor, and the bible says we will give an account to EVERY idle word spoken. Guess What? Jesus and God are anti-hate. God has created every human being and race. According to the bible, they take this “hating on other people/ judging” VERY SERIOUSLY. if you don’t believe me look it up yourself. and if you say “I don’t believe in that stuff” too bad cause it still applies to you anyway. there is more evidence of the Bible being true and accurate than anything else. it has NEVER been wrong in it’s prophecy for those familiar.

SlimShady

The study you cite was proved false and is over 15 years old. I think you should remember that the average life span in the 1st century BC and AD was about 35-40 years of age and they died from the same diseases or even more minor ones. You can thump your Bible all you want, but you benefit from science every day. Don’t try to tell me that if you are seriously ill or injured, you just pray to cure or heal whatever has afflicted one in your family. See if you can find vaccinations in your Bible and where God said “Thou shalt not vaccinate.” Why does it seem that stupidity about earthly things bother you so much, yet you think God is going to save your dumb self? Who sais “Suffer ye not the children, but bring them unto me?”
karl

Stop spouting that nonsense. Autism is a genetic disorder — it is not caused by vaccinations in anay way shape or form.

What does seem to have some causality is advanced age of the father results in higher incidence of autism — in the same way advanced age of the mother is a proximal cause of downe syndrome.

TheNTmom

SO thats why my 26 year old husband at the time produced an Autistic child….please read a little and dont rely on EVERYTHING the news tells you

Yo Yo Ma

Whoop there it is.
CLOROX and MR. CLEAN

Nothing that a $1.50 gallon of CLOROX and MR. CLEAN can’t fix. Please, this is worth the investment.

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Whooping Cough Outbreak Spreads On Long Island; More Than 200 Cases Reported

Health Officials: Early Detection, Antibiotic Treatment Are Keys To Better Health

November 29, 2011 11:58 PM

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