Whooping Cough epidemic???

Well folks it made the news around here, this is the hospital my friend works at:

www.telegram.com.../20060930/NEWS/609300448&SearchID=73258614285407

SNIP:

Saturday, September 30, 2006
Whooping cough breaks out

28 confirmed cases at St. Vincent

By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
[email protected]

WORCESTER— Whooping cough has broken out in St. Vincent Hospital in the past month, with 28 cases, all employees of the hospital, confirmed since Sept. 7.

The hospital is awaiting results of blood tests of another 55 people who exhibited the symptom of a persistent cough, according to hospital spokesman Dennis L. Irish.

So far there have been no confirmed cases in patients, although the hospital is awaiting test results for at least one patient, he said.

END SNIP

...Also I asked my brother, who is a doctor, what a whooping cough sounds like compared to a regular cough, and he said there is no mistaking it, he described it as, "the sound of a baby seal crying in pain as someone is choking it."

I can't recall ever hearing anyone coughing like that in my life, thank goodness!

We having numerous adult patients in Phoenix, AZ area with whooping cough. Seemingly healthy adults are becoming infected. CDC said it can last 100 days. This debilitating, non-stop coughing can lead to bronchitis, pneumonia or other complications. There are some experts who claim that this increase in pertussis is due to vaccination and not the other way around.