In Reply to: Whooping cough anyone ? posted by Kuta Ken on Wednesday, 10. August 2005 at 11:53 Bali Time:
Whooping cough health alert in NSW
Wed, 29th June 2005
NSW Health Director of Communicable Diseases Dr Jeremy McAnulty has today issued a health alert warning people, especially parents, to be on the look out for the symptoms of whooping cough following a disturbing rise in cases across NSW from 317 cases in April to 373 cases in May, with almost 1800 cases reported this year so far.
Dr McAnulty said whooping cough could be unpleasant for people of any age, but it could prove to be very serious in babies, even fatal.
'Young babies will not have been fully vaccinated and so remain vulnerable to whooping cough,' said Dr McAnulty.
'If you have a baby in your family, make sure you don't let anyone with a coughing illness visit the child. The best way to protect babies is to keep them away from anyone with a cough,' he said.
A vaccine is commercially available for adults from GPs. People who have contact with small children, such as parents or grandparents, or people working with small children including health care and child care workers should receive this vaccine.
Dr McAnulty said whooping cough was easily spread to other people by droplets from coughing or sneezing or by direct contact with an infected person's nose or mouth. Someone with whooping cough would be able to spread it to other people for up to three weeks after onset, he added, unless they were treated. So it was important that people were treated early to stop the spread of the disease.
'Whooping cough usually begins just like an ordinary cold with a runny nose, tiredness and sometimes a mild fever," said Dr McAnulty.
'Coughing bouts then develop with attacks followed by a big deep gasp that sometimes produces a whooping sound. Vomiting may follow these bouts of coughing.
'Whooping cough can be very serious in babies and small children who might go blue or even stop breathing during a coughing attack. Often children need to be treated in hospital.'
The Health Department recommends that all children be given a triple vaccine to protect against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough - vaccine should be given at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months and 4 years of age.
Teenagers should also receive an adolescent formulation vaccine (booster) at high school.
As part of a comprehensive vaccination program across all high schools, NSW Health immunised more than 330,000 students between January 2004 and June 2005 against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
'See your doctor if you or your child have a coughing illness that lasts more than a few days.
A fact sheet on whooping cough can be found on this website and also at the NSW Health website at www.health.nsw.gov.au
NSW Health Department data - whooping cough cases
Period Cases all age groups Cases Aged <5 years
2002 2012 203
2003 2770 225
2004 3540 243
Jan to Jun 2005 1791* 115*
* 1 January to 28 June 2005
Issued by NSW Health Media Unit on Wednesday June 29, 2005