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Local doctors treat whooping cough
Published Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Though Freeborn County physicians have not seen whooping cough outbreaks as high as some other counties across the state, they have seen three or four confirmed cases of the disease and have treated 40 or 50 people who might have come in contact with those affected individuals, said Michael D. Ulrich, a family practice physician at Albert Lea Medical Center.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, whooping cough, officially named pertussis, is a disease that affects the lungs. It is spread from person to person through the air.
Ulrich said whooping cough starts off like a cold with sneezing, a runny nose, a cough and possibly a low-grade fever. But then it develops into something more.
A cold will typically get better after a week, but with whooping cough the cough gets worse, he said.
People who have it will develop a very distinctive cough, he said. They will have bouts of coughs, in which it is common for them to vomit. True whooping cough can go on for a couple months.
People of any age can get the disease, though teenagers and adults account for more than half of reported cases, according to the state Department of Health. If infants get pertussis, it is often severe, and they will be more likely to develop complications.
How can pertussis be prevented?
- Vaccinate all children on time. This is the best way to prevent pertussis.
- Avoid close contact with others who are coughing or otherwise ill.
- Wash hands often.
- Stay at home if ill.
- Cover a cough with a tissue or cough into a sleeve.
- Seek medical attention if pertussis-like symptoms develop or if exposed to someone with pertussis.
If someone develops the symptoms of whooping cough, that person is contagious to those they come into close contact with. For example if someone goes on a car ride with a person who has pertussis, that person could be susceptible to the disease, Ulrich said.
Generally, a person is at greater risk of getting the disease if they are within three feet of someone with pertussis for at least 10 hours a week, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The period between exposure to the bacteria and onset of illness is usually seven to 10 days but may be as long as 21 days.
To determine if someone has the disease, a nasal swab test is performed, Ulrich said. If that test comes back positive, doctors treat that person, along with the contacts of that person. Antibiotics can be given as a precaution to the contacts to prevent whooping cough from developing.
Ulrich said it was not uncommon to treat the 40 or 50 contacts they have this year to prevent the spread. On one hand while doctors don’t want to over-treat people, they have to weigh that with the alternative of how it would be if the people went untreated and possibly could have developed the disease.
In addition to the three or four confirmed cases in Freeborn County this year, there have probably been another three to four cases that are presumed, Ulrich said. These people have had close contact with those who doctors have confirmed to have the disease and who have experienced the same symptoms.
The doctor said whooping cough is a disease that appears periodically. It’s something doctors see in various areas, and outbreaks can be associated in areas where vaccinations have dropped. Usually, it’s something he doesn’t see often.
Symptoms of pertussis:
- First symptoms of pertussis are similar to a cold, including symptoms such as sneezing, a runny nose, a low-grade fever and a cough. After one or two weeks, the cough becomes severe.
- The cough occurs in sudden uncontrollable bursts where one cough follows the next without a break for breath.
- Many children will make a high-pitched whooping sound when breathing in after a coughing episode. Whooping is less common in infants and adults.
- During a coughing spell the person may vomit.
- The person’s face or lips may look blue from lack of oxygen.
- The cough is often worse at night.
- Between coughing spells, the person seems well, but the illness is exhausting over time.
- Coughing episodes gradually become less frequent, but may continue for several weeks or months until the lungs heal.
— Information from the Minnesota Department of Health
“If you have a pool of parents who don’t want to vaccinate their kids, it can flare up,” he said.
The fact that Freeborn County has had three or four cases is “a little atypical,” Ulrich added. But he thinks the county is over the curve. Doctors have been treating the people who have had it, and they’re not seeing it come up as much.
Albert Lea Area Schools nurse Carol Bosma said she doesn’t consider the three or four whooping cough cases in the entire county to be an outbreak.
The disease can be prevented through the pertussis booster vaccine (Tdap) for adolescents.
A Minnesota Department of Health advisory stated that pertussis outbreaks have been occurring in several Minnesota communities, including Dakota, Douglas, Otter Tail and Wright counties. Outbreaks in Dakota and Douglas counties each include between 15 and 25 confirmed cases, according to the advisory.
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Comments
Posted by None (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 10:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Way to blame the non-vaxers, Ulrich. Apparently nobody ever told you that the whooping cough vaccine doesn't prevent transmission of the disease, it just lesses the symptoms in the vaccinated person. Fully vaccinated people are still completely capable of passing on whooping cough and they're still completely capable of acquiring the disease. And I don't even have a medical degree!
Posted by judyc (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Another reason for this outbreak is that the school NO longer allows parents to have the authority or the knowledge to know that thier child is sick and keep them home from school. Parents and students are being scared into going to school or sending the students to school due to the circumstances the students will face if they miss a day of school. If your child has the flu and is at home throwing up and experiencing diarrhea - the only way they can be excused is for you to take them to a doctor. What is this teaching our kids..... That we have no authority.
Posted by Wildbill (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I keep hearing more and more how messed up the schools have gotten to be. I'm glad I went to school back when I did. If you had medication you took it. If you were sick,
you could go home or your parents could keep you home. The baby boomers actually servived the teeter toter and monkey bars. I don't totally blame the schools, we do have sue happy "parents" as well.
Posted by anasgrammy (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
how old are these people that have been treated for this? are they in school or adults? just curious. nothing said about that in the article
Posted by jazzyjeff (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 1:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I believe they are students. Most are from the dance team.
Posted by mosedart (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Whooping cough? Do we also have to worry about Dysentary and Typhoid now too?
Posted by citizen07 (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 6:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mosedart, I was surprised to learn that they still vaccinate people in the military for smallpox. I thought this was eradicted but who knows what can pop up.
Anyways, about kids staying home from school, I was guilty of going to high school when I was sick. I was taking college level classes and missing one day would mess up my entire week. And like this article says, symptoms start out similar to the common cold. I don't know many people that miss work or school if all they think they have is the cold.
Posted by the_truth (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 8:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"If your child has the flu and is at home throwing up and experiencing diarrhea - the only way they can be excused is for you to take them to a doctor. What is this teaching our kids..... That we have no authority."
Just preparing the kids to our wonderful Minnesota Workforce Laws..
Posted by None (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 7:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Heck, they're vaccinating infants against hep B (an STD) before they even leave the hospital, and the chickenpox vaccine (seriously? chickenpox?) is required for school entry, I'm surprised they aren't trying to force a typhoid vax on us.
Posted by headscratcher (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
None---- you are totally wrong on the school issue. If your child is sick keep them home!!! NO one wants your child to come to school sick and pass along germs. I know I work in a school. If children are consistantly absent then yes you may face signing an attendance contract but that takes a lot of absences. There are stricter rules at the high school but more kids drive themselves to school and so it is easier to "skip school". The schools are only trying to cut down on truancy issues. They are not trying to control you.
It is a state law that kids have vaccinations not Albert Lea school district.
Posted by crysandclay (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
None-
Hep B is NOT just transmitted sexually...you really need to research!!!! There are other ways to contract the disease!
And kids can DIE from chickenpox if they're not vaccinated because kids who are vaccinated may still get them but in a much milder form, the vaccination does help in that respect because chicken pox can be so bad as to be in the throat, mouth and INSIDE the body!
And kids actually do not HAVE to be vaccinated because you can waiver it-knowing the risks, etc. I know that a lot of chiropractors DO NOT vaccinate their children. These comments are being made SO careslessly! Maybe read up BEFORE posting comments.
Posted by citizen07 (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
For the record Hep B is required now for most healthcare workers. Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood and body fluids, so yes it can be transmitted sexually but that is not the only way. It's a very nasty virus and usually not detected until the damage is done.
Posted by None (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 9:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Headscratcher, I never brought up the subject of sick kids and school (I think you're thinking of truth or one of the other posters). Crysandclay, AIDS also isn't only transmitted sexually but it is considered an STD. And OMGZ kidz DO die from teh chikinpoks! Yeah, immune-surpressed or chronically ill kids are the ones most likely to die from it. How many kids do you know who died from the pox when you were a kid? How many were hospitalized? How many even had lasting effects from contracting it? Way to drink the kool-aid there.
Posted by citizen07 (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 9:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Many STD's can be transmitted ways other than just sexually. It's a very interesting way that we have been classifying diseases, that's for sure. When you are that close to someone in the first place you would think anything could be transmitted, thus gaining the "STD" label.
Posted by headscratcher (anonymous) on November 21, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My apologies none. However, chickenpox does have lasting effects. Did you know that a person can only get shingles if they have had the chickenpox. The virus that causes the chickenpox lays dormant in a persons body after they have the chickenpox and can "flare up" again in the form of shingles. Plus both of my daughters have scars on their faces from chickenpox.
Posted by lillyrose (anonymous) on November 21, 2008 at 10:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
as for the question on ages of those who have been diagnosed - at the very least I know one is an adult, who has not taken precautions to avoid spreading it further.
Posted by None (anonymous) on November 24, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ah, but shingles is only becoming more prevalent because of the varicella vaccine - kids are innoculated once or twice with a weakened live virus, which gets the virus into their bodies, but because people aren't exposed to chickenpox as much as they were "back in the old days" their immunity doesn't keep up, which means when they finally are exposed to the pox again it has a higher risk of showing up as shingles. And, surprise surprise, now they're marketing a shingles vaccine.
I've had both chickenpox and shingles and lived to tell about it, and even have a pox scar on my face to prove it.
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