Whooping cough

[Polar Bear]

I see the trend is rehearsing and infants are suffering, even dying.

Whooping cough hit my family really hard in 1965bfesulginv in one of my family suffering severe and permanent brain damage.  The wider family have lived with this tragedy for nearly 60 years now.  My mother had a breakdown and was never the same, my father felt guilty for something he had no control of until his dying day.

One of my sister's and I spend a lot of our time just fighting the system to keep her life vaguely bearable.

If you have young family members starting a family of their own please please encourage them to have their child vaccinated when the opportunity arises.  The unpleasant and difficult consequences may well outlive you and even them..

[Regulator]

I'm afraid this is very much down to the anti-vaxxers, as is the increase in measles deaths.

[Gattopardo]

All down to one report that was found to be floored.

[SteveC]

I had whooping cough as an eight-year old. I was the eldest of five children in the family at the time. I remember the doctor discussing mortality rates with my mother. Fortunately I was too young to really understand. My youngest sister, who was about four months old at the time, was protected by still being breastfed. The other four of us were very ill. There were nights on the trot where my parents had to change all four beds as we'd been sick. We were off school for six weeks in quarantine. I was still suffering after effects at least a year later. And compared to PB's family, we were lucky. It is not a mild 'childhood disease' at all.

One other thing I remember was the coal tar vaporiser in our bedroom. I suspect that is no longer a recommended treatment.

[rogerzilla]

My SO had it when she was a student, presumably because the vaccine failed to protect her.  The violent coughing did something to the optic nerve in one eye, which occasionally flickers or loses colours.

[barakta]

My older sister got whooping cough when I was a baby and I had respiratory issues so this was a huge concern. We were lucky we were both fine (I can't remember if I had it mildly or not at all) and Mum had us vaccinated as soon as it was available (think I was too young for the routine one and sister had been born before it was offered) afterwards (Mum had to fight to get me vaccinated properly cos of my health issues as she RIGHTLY knew vaccines were safer than the diseases).

The issue is people are bad at risk and while vaccine injury is real, it's a tiny sub 1% and the diseases are all worse statistical risk. Not very easy to deal with if you're the sub-1%, but vaccination is not just about you, it's about the community "herd". I know people who can't have certain vaccines cos of anaphylaxis or rare conditions and they NEED the herd immunity more than anyone.

I am less angry at Mrs Random Slapcheek (name we gave one of the anti MMR vaxxers in our sign language class) than I am at people like Dr Andrew Wakefield (MMR grifter) and the new ones like Dr Aseem Malhotra a cardiologist who's all over the social medias claiming the Covid vaccines kill people through heart diseases. The medically qualified grifters are DANGEROUS! Not least cos we don't have just one Covid vaccine, we have at least 4 main types which are all different to one another.

And indeed the GMC who is quick enough to strike off a GP for protesting climate change but claim they can't strike off the Malhotras of this world (and took their sweet decades of time to strike Wakefield off!). They have deaths on their hands for this.

We also need to resource GPs and associated health visiting/district nursing services to build relationships with people who are scared of vaccines to improve trust on that front.

[chrisbainbridge]

I had whooping cough and then measles, chickenpox, mumps and finally pneumonia.  I had an entire year where I only went to school for a week at a time to catch the next illness.  Fortunately I had just learned to read so spent 6-7 years of age reading every book in my father's collection that he would let me.  By the time I returned to school I had read all of the classics like kidnapped, all the Sherlock Holmes and the historical novels, every biggles book, Dorothy L sayers, and a number of others.  Then I had a year of intense tuition to get me back to age equivalent in all the other subjects.

[hellymedic]

Mum declined whooping cough vaccine for her first 5 kids. I’m not sure about Kid Brother.
I think my brother D (#5) had whooping cough at the age of 50 & was miserable for months.

My late Dad had whooping cough as a child and always had a somewhat wheezy cough.

It’s worth protecting kids.

[rafletcher]

My sister had it. My mother recalled sitting in the bathroom, filled with steam, to ease her symptoms.

[Clare]

Vernon and I both had whooping cough in 2017. as 50 year olds. it was horrible and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. Regarding vaccines, it is not just the child, pregnant women should also be vaccinated to give protection to their child until it gets its routine vaccination.

It is worth noting that childhood vaccinations do not give lifelong immunity.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Mum declined whooping cough vaccine for her first 5 kids.

My mum declined it for me, apparently on doctors’ advice as I had been very ill with bacterial meningitis as an infant. I have no idea what the thinking was there (mid 1960s).

I subsequently had whooping cough of course (and mumps, and measles).