Whooping outbreak
July 28, 2010
THE US state of California is facing
the largest outbreak of whooping
cough in more than 50 years.
So far this year around 1,500 of
the state’s citizens have been
diagnosed with the condition, and
six infants under three months of
age have died following contagion.
In addition there are also 700
unconfirmed cases of whooping
cough currently under investigation,
with authorities saying that there
may be many more cases who
have flown under the radar.
“This has the potential to
become very huge,” said Gilberto
Chavez, chief of the California
Department of Public Health’s
Center for Infectious Disease.
“But we are at a point where we
can contain it,” he added.
Authorities have said that the
best protection against the spread
is vaccination and “herd immunity”.
The news comes on the back of
the recent Australian furore over
the anti-vaccination group ‘The
Australian Vaccination Network’,
which saw the Health Care Complaints
Commission in NSW rule that it
provided “misleading” information.
“The AVN provides information
that is misleading for the average
reader by inaccurately representing
information, selectively reporting
information, and giving non-peer
reviewed and anecdotal material
the same authority as peer-reviewed
literature,” the HCCC said.
Recently the head of the AMA’s
WA branch said that “it is so
frustrating to see groups purport to
be giving information about
immunisation continue to promote
discredited theories.
“I can almost weep when I have
young parents tell me in the
Emergency Department they have
made a choice to not immunise
their child, where in the same
department over many years I have
comforted the parents of children
who have either died or suffered
irreversible damage due to these
preventable infections,” he added.
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