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Whooping cough, a disease that is not well known in this day and age, is rearing its ugly head in California and has experts calling it an epidemic. Whooping cough was well known in the 1950’s and continued through the 1970’s as a major disease. Thanks to many modern medical advances and scientific breakthroughs the disease has hardly been heard of in recent years.
However, the increase in cases of the disease has placed a lot of attention on the bacteria levels around the world. Whooping cough is highly infectious and one need only be in proximity of someone that is coughing to contract the disease. This makes it very easy to spread and even harder to control.
There are vaccines for whooping cough but many families have turned against the idea of vaccines in recent years. The dramatic upswing in vaccine costs has sent many running in the other direction and kept young children from being protected from these dangerous illnesses. Others have concerns over the safety of the vaccines after various studies have shown links to autism and other health risks.
The standard treatment for whooping cough is antibiotics that are administered at the earliest sign of the disease. They are not nearly as effective when administered at the later stages but can still stop the disease if taken properly.
The main focus for those affected is the protection of children. Babies and very young children are at risk of severe disabilities or even death from whooping cough as their immune system is not strong enough to fight off the bacteria.
Experts agree that vaccines are the answer to preventing the spread of diseases like whooping cough. Protecting children that have reached the vaccination age is an important step to maintaining their health as they mature. Once the spread of whooping cough has started it is incredibly hard to control and those affected will continue to spread the disease unless treated.
