Whooping cough outbreak hits Floyd
The Virginia Department of Health has reported an outbreak of whooping cough in Floyd County.
About 30 people have the illness, which is a highly contagious infection characterized by coughing fits that can last for up to 10 week. It is also called pertussis. Some people also called it the “100 day cough”.
The New River Health District Director Dr. Molly O’Dell said she anticipates more people will be diagnosed.
She also said that the outbreak is caused by people not being properly vaccinated.
The CDC website says, “Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from the lungs and you are forced to inhale with a loud ‘whooping’ sound.” (Hear the cough by clicking on the link).
The cough can cause people to be very tired and in some cases vomit.
Not everyone “whoops” with the infection. It is a milder cough in teens and adults, especially those who have been vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Early symptoms can last for one to two weeks and are similar to a cold, including a runny nose, low-grade fever, and a mild or occasional cough.
O’Dell said the outbreak is a reminder of the need for adults and children to be vaccinated against the infection.
You can read more about the outbreak and its connection to Blue Mountain School, a private school, in the story I wrote in today’s paper. [UPDATE 4/6: More details about how half the students at Blue Mountain School became ill with whooping cough END UPDATE]
April 5, 2011 - 11:14 AM
I don’t really get this. You send your kid to an “alternative” school so that you don’t have to vaccinate them, and as soon as the predictable outbreak of an illness (preventable by vaccination) breaks out you shut down the school and go running for antibiotics. Really?
Pertussis IS a big issue. What gets me are the folks who knowingly decide NOT to immunize their children, then get nervous when a vaccine-preventable disease breaks out, making most a little bit ill, and a few very ill. There are reasons that vaccines were developed–that was to prevent deaths from infectious diseases. Just because we have not seen some of these diseases for many years (many doctors have never seen a case of measles, diptheria or tetanus), as more and more families opt for a more “natural” life without vaccines, we will see them again, and yes, some children will die.
If readers want to hear my explanation for some of this, (decidedly pro-immunization) they may want to visit my blog post at http://www.carilionclinic.org/blogs/ackerman/2011/04/05/autism-and-pertussis/
I can understand the confusion for people who jump to these assumptions. Yet, all people who seek alternative education are not necessarily looking for a way to avoid vaccinating their children. In fact, children can attend public school without having been vaccinated if they have a religious exemption.
Many seeking the alternative education of this particular school in Floyd value its emphasis on contemplative practices, education of the social and emotional aspects of the child, and its intrinsically-motivated project-based learning environment. Children and staff spend much time trying to see other people’s points of view, communicate their differences with compassion, and reach for common solutions.
It makes sense to me, therefore, that Blue Mountain School might honor the personal decisions of families to choose their own health practices, and yet when those choices begin to put others at risk, devise a plan that protects the community as a whole. Some may even begin to question and research further their previously held beliefs about the best medical choices for their families.
This is what learning is all about for those who choose the alternative to black and white/ right vs. wrong mentality: to question and think for themselves: evaluating, and re-evaluating. Some families may still choose to avoid the recommended treatment with antibiotics, but the school will have a policy in place to determine at what point they can enter back into the school without putting other at risk.
It is nice to think that some experts have all the answers, but a look at the real world shows that it’s not that simple. Mistakes and injustices abound. We are all learning, and acceptance and improvements are part of the process, hopefully.
Hard to believe but I’m sorta with ole gal Kristen on this one. Karen makes it sound all warm and fuzzy but it really comes down to decisions based on personal views rooted in rejection of conventional wisdom. People who live this lifestyle typically reject the “wisdom” part and substitute conventional stupidity. Karen: Some lessons really don’t need to be “learned”. The proof exists. They just need to be accepted.
In the meantime, they are putting children at risk who aren’t old enough to get the vaccine yet. Think about someone besides yourself here, people.
“In the meantime, they are putting children at risk who aren’t old enough to get the vaccine yet. Think about someone besides yourself here, people.”
And people who are immunosuppressed due to chemotherapy or illness, or age. Vaccination works when the main body of the herd gets it – it protects people who are otherwise vulnerable.
It’s all well and good to contemplate the pros and cons of vaccination when you’re talking about something as relatively benign as pertussis. Should there be a polio outbreak, I doubt there will be as much touchy-feely let’s-respect-everyone’s-decisions going on. Although it’s mostly eraticated in the US, it’s far from gone in the rest of the world, and the Roanoke area gets lots of immigrants from countries the disease is still alive and well.
Unfortunately, the absolute success of vaccination science has, ironically, provided an environment in which the consequences of not vaccinating are mostly avoided. If we returned to a time when parents watched as their children died tortuous deaths from this preventable diseases, there wouldn’t be much discussion on about it. Nobody in this generation has seen an baby with whooping cough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8yUSV4oqoU
Absolutely preventable.
“these preventable” …sorry..
And…that should have been “eradicated”
I’m sure it means a lot to the little kids with pertussis, a disease that will turn your child into a frail, coughing, vomiting skeleton for three months and sometimes causes permanent lung damage, that the health department people are “understanding” toward their parents, who apparently believe that that which probably will not kill their children will make them stronger somehow.
Let’s see here:
Immunize and have child(ren)grow up strong and healthy
Don’t immunize and possibly lose child.
I’ll immunize my kids thank you very much as well as myself and hubby!
Can a school REQUIRE that ALL children be vaccinated or is that considered discriminatory practices? I’m interested in the legal aspects. My child’s school is private, but allows non-vaccinated children with the requisite letter of “religious” exemption. I think this is not acceptable. That letter will not protect a baby who is too young for vaccination.
I think it would be interesting to know how many children at this school have ADHD, Asthma, Allergies, or other disorders like these that seem to be an epidemic in this country. These are a huge part of why parents are reluctant to vaccinate their children. This country gives the most vaccinations then any other country and we have the highest amount of children with these and other disorders.
If half of this school had asthma would everyone jump to judgment about the parents choices of their kids or how we have to protect other children from getting asthma? It probably wouldn’t have even been news at all.
I am not anti-vaccination, but the way vaccinations work these days you have to get all or nothing…and all might just be too much of a good thing. There are no studies showing the true safety of vaccinations when they are all combined..and in such a short time. There are also no studies on the health and well being of un-vaccinated children in the US.
Like I said…it would be interesting to know.
“There are also no studies on the health and well being of un-vaccinated children in the US.”
Do the 30 un-vaccinated kids who are now suffering with whooping cough count towards a study on the health and well being of un-vaccinated
children in the US?
” but the way vaccinations work these days you have to get all or nothing…”
Not true. Yes, you are required to get certain vaccines to enter public school- vaccines against preventable diseases like polio and well, whooping cough. But you can choose to opt out of others, like hepatitis B (a STD that they vaccinate for while a newborn in still in the hospital). So no, it’s not all or nothing.
“I think it would be interesting to know how many children at this school have ADHD, Asthma, Allergies, or other disorders like these that seem to be an epidemic in this country”.
Well, if you’re going to start throwing out names of diseases and conditions that are epidemic in this country, without providing any scientific evidence that actually links them to vaccinations, why stop there? How about obesity, or diabetes? There’s no evidence that either are linked to vaccinations, but then again, there’s no evidence that the conditions you randomly threw out there are either.
This is why the anti-vaccination movement is unfortunately gaining in popularity in this country- rumors not based on any scientific evidence. And the result…well, an outbreak of a nearly once eradicated disease in an “alternative” school in Floyd. This incident is an embarrasment and a disgrace for those parents who chose not to vaccinate their children, and it angers me to no end that their irresponsible actions now threaten the health and well being of the entire community (including my 3-month old son who has not finished his vaccinations yet).
Religious exemption?! Selfish and inconsiderate behaviour they hope they can mask with such a claim!
Is this truly a group of orthodox devout believers of some faith, or are they just trying to use that as a clearly bad excuse for “I ain’t listening to The Man, man!”? Using religious belief is well and fine, but do they also not ever consume ANY type of man-made chemical or preservative? I would love to see how these people all live, taking advantage of a private school with electricity, when clearly they are above such things as they can live in holes in the ground and all else will be provided.
Do they eat processed food? Do they drive a car? Use anything man-made/created/invented?
I am betting the answers are all yes, and this is a blatant lie because they have NO real and legitimate excuse for lack of immunization, but they claim religion hoping we all just sit down and go “oh, ok so that makes it OK” – stick with your own kind, you selfish inconsiderate idiots!
I can also say what I want about them since I am sure such a religion cannot truly condone use of a computer or internet or cel phone.. Oh wait that’s right the claim of religion was used in place of “umm.. I don’t know” to explain why they would deliberately put others at risk