“California is in the middle of the worst outbreak of whooping cough in 60 years. According to the state health department, there are now 6,257 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of the disease. Ten people have died.
‘Unfortunately and tragically we have had 10 deaths, all in infants under 2 years of age,’ said Dr. Kathleen Harriman, California Department of Public Health. Nine of the 10 infants were Hispanic and several had family members with ‘cough illness,’ according to Harriman.
Harriman was in Atlanta on Wednesday where the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is in the first day of an annual tw0- day meeting. The panel makes recommendations on how to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases. ACIP also recommends when vaccines should be administered, how many doses should be given and at what interval. Harriman’s advice to the committee–anyone that has not had Tdap–the pertussis vaccine–should have one.”
(Source: Whooping cough continues to climb in California – The Chart – CNN.com Blogs)