Whooping Cough Epidemic in California

Whooping Cough Website Review
Kelly Dayton
HCS/457
August 23, 2010
Sally Kohls

California is experiencing one of the largest pertussis, or whopping cough, epidemics in the state’s history.   “To date (8/17/2010), there have been 3,076 confirmed, probable and suspect cases of pertussis reported in 2010 for a state rate of 7.9 cases/100,000. This is a 7-fold increase from the number of reported cases during the same time period in 2009 when 434 cases were reported.” (cdph.ca.gov, 2010) If the trends continue the way they are currently, California will see the highest number of cases of pertussis in 47 years and more cases total in 50 years.   Whooping cough occurs mostly in unimmunized infants under 3 months of age.   State and local government agencies are trying to intervene through education and Dtap (Diptheria Tetanus and Pertussis) vaccine clinics for infants and caregivers of infants.   Education about pertussis is offered on federal, state, and local government agency websites. Current surveillance information about the epidemic was only found on state and local agency’s websites.
Local Governmental Agency Website
Only one Amador County local governmental agency website was found.   The Amador County website offers very little information on the current statewide and local whooping cough epidemic.   This website reports that there are three confirmed cases of pertussis in Amador County. “Amador County Public Health confirms diagnosed cases of pertussis (whooping cough) in three unimmunized children.” (Amador County website, 2010)   All three cases were in infants under the age of three months, none of the infants had their first Dtap vaccine.   The information found on this website concurs with the information found on the state’s website.   The Amador County Department of Public health uses statistics from the state to inform the public about the state’s epidemic updates.   Amador County’s information came from the local... [continues]

Read full essay