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Pertussis in Reno County: Another Outbreak Among the Vaccinated?

Reno County in south-central Kansas is reporting more than 70 suspected cases of pertussis (whooping cough) this year, as of July 18. Forty-one of the cases are “confirmed or probable,” according to the Reno County Health Department.1 That number is up from 18 reported as of June 29. The county accounts for 20% of the total pertussis cases in Kansas.2

A local newspaper, The Hutchinson News, quoted Reno County Health Department Director Nick Baldetti as saying, “There’s serious concern for a potential exponential spread through our schools.”2 Baldetti’s department is apparently working with school districts in the area to set up clinics to vaccinate children prior to and during enrollment for the school year in August. “This is truly a widespread outbreak. And it is truly on us, as a community, to ensure we are protecting those in our community that cannot protect themselves,”2 said Baldetti.

According to an Eyewitness News 12 report, Ray Hemman, the public information officer for the city of Hutchinson school district, all of the reported cases of pertussis in that district are of children who had been vaccinated against the disease.3 The childhood pertussis vaccine is called DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis).

Hutchinson is the largest city within Reno County and is the county’s seat of government. Other districts within Reno include Buhler, Burrton, Fairfield, Haven and Nickerson and Pretty Prairie.

The Hutchinson News reports that, although “scientists say people are protected from the disease if vaccinated” (an inaccurate statement, given the children infected children in Hutchinson school district), people vaccinated against pertussis can spread the disease to others.4

And this is precisely the point to bear in mind as you read about pertussis outbreaks. The outbreaks are not necessarily occurring because of the lack of so-called “herd immunity”—not enough people being vaccinated. They may well be occurring because of the vaccinated population itself.

Remember last year’s pertussis epidemic in California? There were some 10,000 reported cases of pertussis—the worst outbreak of the disease in the state since the 1940s.5

Throughout the year, there were numerous articles in newspapers and other media sources blaming the unvaccinated community for the outbreak. The headlines provide a sense of the obvious bias. Headlines such as “Anti-Vaccination Beliefs are Contagious Like a Disease” in The Washington Post,6 or California’s Deadly Whooping Cough Epidemic Blamed on Anti-Vaccine Campaign” on RT.7

The bias is troubling on many levels. The articles implied or outright said that the reason there were so many cases of pertussis in California was that vaccination rates for children in the state were low relative to other states in the country, and that they had continually been dropping.

An article in Salon titled “California’s Whooping Cough Outbreak is Officially an Epidemic,” published on June 16, 2014,8 quoted the following from an NPR article, “Vaccine Refusals Fueled California’s Whooping Cough Epidemic”:

They compared the location and number of whooping cough, or pertussis, cases in that outbreak with the personal belief exemptions filed by parents who chose not to vaccinate for reasons other than a child’s health. (Some children with compromised immune systems aren’t able to be vaccinated. … They found that people who lived in areas with high rates of personal belief exemptions were 2 1/2 times more likely to live in a place with lots of pertussis cases. “The exemptions clustered spatially and were associated with clusters of cases,” Jessica Atwell, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead author on the study, told Shots. It was published online in the journal Pediatrics.9

The problem is that in all these articles there is a tendency to confuse correlation with causality. The two are not the same. In other words, the fact that there is a pertussis outbreak in an area of low vaccination rates does not mean that the low vaccination rates were behind the outbreak. There may be a correlation between the two, but that does not prove that the former caused the latter.

Let’s start with an interesting view from Dr. Anne Schuchat, who is the director of the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. In an article titled “CDC: Whooping Cough Heading to a 50-Year High,” published by WebMD Health News on July 19, 2012, Dr. Schuchat is reported to have said that “better diagnosis and reporting of whooping cough may be contributing to the increased numbers, along with the fact that the disease tends to peak and wane in cycles. It does not appear that anti-vaccination sentiment among parents has contributed to either the national rise in cases or the Washington State epidemic.”10

Wonder why.

Simple. It turns out that in many cases, people (both children and adults) who get pertussis are up to date with their vaccinations. Note the following excerpt from “Immunized People Getting Whooping Cough” published by KPBS of San Diego State University on June 12, 2014: “Most of the people who got whooping cough in San Diego County so far this year were up to date with their immunizations, according to county data. Of the 621 people who contracted the illness, 85% had all their preventative shots—calling into question the efficacy of the vaccine.”11

In a study reported by Reuters on April 2012 and published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, Dr. David Witt and other researchers looked at 132 patients at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Rafael, CA who tested positive for whooping cough during March-October 2010. Get this… 81% of the patients were fully up to date on the pertussis vaccine, 11% had received at least one round of the vaccine, and only 8% had never been vaccinated.12

More? In 2012, there was a major outbreak of pertussis in Vermont. As of August 10 of that year, public health officials  had determined that 90% of 178 infected children in the state between the ages of six months and 18 years old had received at least one dose of the pertussis vaccine, and that about 80% of them had gotten 5-6 doses.13

It only takes a quick scan of the literature online to notice that there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of articles regarding outbreaks of pertussis, measles, and other contagious diseases around the United States in which the vast majority of the people infected had been fully vaccinated.

So when it comes to blaming those who choose not to vaccinate (for whatever reason they wish), it doesn’t make any sense. The facts just don’t bear it out.


References:

1 Baldetti N. Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Cases still increasing in Reno County. Reno County Health Department July 24, 2015.
2 Green J. Whooping cough outbreak won’t give up. The Hutchinson News July 25, 2015.
3 70 diagnosed with Whooping Cough in Reno County. Eyewitness News 12 July 27, 2015.
4 Green J. Studies reveal a few surprises about pertussis vaccine. The Hutchinson News July 26, 2015.
5 Haynes D. Whooping cough in California hits 70-year high. UPI Dec. 16, 2015.
6 McKenna M. Anti-vaccination beliefs are contagious like a disease The Washington Post Sept. 22, 2014.
7 California’s deadly whooping cough epidemic blamed on anti-vaccine campaign RT June 17, 2014.
8 Abrams L. California’s whooping cough outbreak is officially an epidemic Salon June 16, 2014.
9 Shute N. Vaccine Refusals Fueled California’s Whooping Cough Epidemic Salon Sept. 30, 2013.
10 Boyles S. CDC: Whooping Cough Heading to a 50-Year High WebMD Health News July 19, 2012.
11 Faryon J. Immunized People Getting Whooping Cough KPBS June 12, 2014.
12 Grens K. Whooping cough vaccine fades in pre-teens: study Reuters Apr. 3, 2012.
13 Stein A. Pertussis Outbreak Has State Encouraging Vaccinations for Adults and Children VTDigger Dec. 20, 2012.

9 Responses

  1. It is hard to believe the insanity of doing more vaccinations… Shouldn’t they at least check to see if this strain is the new one that selectively infects vaccinated people, or is actually the related B parapertussis?

  2. I have a relative who was diagnosed with ‘pertussis’ in 2014. The next day the doctor said it was NOT ‘pertussis.’
    I’d like to see someone address the fact that the medical ‘professionals’ are intentionally misdiagnosing so they can record it as a statistic. Of course, the statistical numbers are never corrected to reflect the truth.

  3. If doctors actually made it a priority to test people with persistent coughs for pertussis instead of ignoring them, thinking the coughs could never be pertussis because the people were vaccinated, I’m sure the number of cases would be astounding. The bacteria that it is, pertussis is alive and well, and considering the short life of vaccine induced immunity as well as natural immunity, the vaccine will never make pertussis go away.

  4. Any statistics the Gooberment and the Lame Stream Media comes out with, I just trash it. It’s all mindless propaganda anyways. What scares me is the way the VA tries to sneak a jab on me.

  5. This is a completely inaccurate and misinformed statement: “The Hutchinson News reports that, although “scientists say people are protected from the disease if vaccinated” (an inaccurate statement, given the children infected children in Hutchinson school district), people vaccinated against pertussis can spread the disease to others.4

    And this is precisely the point to bear in mind as you read about pertussis outbreaks. The outbreaks are not necessarily occurring because of the lack of so-called “herd immunity”—not enough people being vaccinated. They may well be occurring because of the vaccinated population itself.”

    It is irresponsible to publish such false information.

  6. And why is the statement inaccurate Susan?
    According to WebMD
    The newer pertussis vaccine does not protect against disease for as long as the previous version.
    Even vaccinated people may still be carriers and spread whooping cough without realizing it.

  7. We see this quite a bit. These cases are mentioned briefly and then quickly forgotten. The media ran rampant with the Disney measles case and blamed it on the unvaccinated. According to the CDC it was most likely either brought into the country from a visitor or from someone who recently returned from visiting outside the country. They determined this by the strain. The Disney was a B strain; keep in mind the MMR is made for the A strain. There have been 597 petitions filed for compensation due to vaccine injury/death in 2015 alone. See more here: http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/vicpmonthlyaugust.pdf. Bottom line, the unvaccinated do not have these viruses-illnesses festering in our systems just waiting to jump on the unsuspecting vaccinated. It doesn’t work that way! Start reading vaccine inserts and ingredient lists from the pharmaceutical maker and the CDC. Start understanding that those vaccines such as MMR can be passed on to others. According to the vaccine insert you should stay away from vulnerable children and adults for 23 days after the vaccination due to passing that very same virus you were vaccinated against to that susceptible person. Sadly, there are many doctors who haven’t read an insert nor can they tell you want ingredients are in a vaccine. They just say, “they are safe and effective.” Kind of like the doctors who advertised cigarettes back in the day and how they helped sooth a sore throat and coughs. Cigarettes were safe and effective too at one time. Read the inserts, get educated, take charge of your and your child’s health. Parents, and only parents, have the right to make these decisions!

  8. The CDC recommends ifannt vaccinations at 2, 4, 6 months and again between 15-18 months, however a baby that is not fully vaccinated or too young to be vaccinated is at risk for this potentially serious infection. Also, the protection from the vaccine doesn’t ‘last’ forever so a person who was vaccinated as a baby can be vulnerable to catching whooping cough as a teen or young adult. It’s for this reason that the CDC recommends a booster vaccination at 11-12 years of age and one as an adult as well. The booster includes protection from pertussis as well as tetanus

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