Schools to offer booster shots to combat whooping cough outbreak
 

Thursday, November 1, 2007

CANDY BROOKS
ThisWeek Staff Writer

Booster shots will be given at Worthington's high schools to help combat the outbreak of whooping cough that has hit the schools over the past two weeks.

Twenty-three cases of the highly contagious disease have been confirmed, said school spokesperson Vicki Gnezda. All have been at Worthington Kilbourne or Thomas Worthington high schools, except for one case reported at Wilson Hill Elementary School.

School officials are working with the Columbus Health Department to offer the vaccines. Times and days had not been set by press time late Tuesday, but Gnezda said the shots may be offered later this week.

The outbreak began two weeks ago with polo team and band members at Worthington Kilbourne. It quickly spread to Thomas Worthington.

Teachers have been told to be on the lookout for students with coughs, Gnezda said. Students who have had a cough for three days should be sent home and not return to school until they have seen a doctor to either rule out whooping cough or receive treatment with an antibiotic.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a bacterial respiratory disease that spreads easily and begins with cold-like symptoms. It proceeds to a severe, constant cough.

In young children, the cough ends in a "whoop" sound. In older children and adults, that sound is usually not present. The cough is sometimes followed by vomiting. Usually there is little or no fever.

The disease is spread by close contact with respiratory secretions.

Young children are protected against pertussis because they have been immunized with the DTaP vaccine, both as infants and before entering kindergarten.

Over the last several years, whooping cough has been on the rise with adolescents as they lose their protection, according to the Columbus Health Department.

"We do a terrific job at making sure young children get the pertussis vaccines they need to be protected, but parents must know the immunity may wane by adolescence, putting teenagers and adults at risk for whooping cough," Columbus Public Health commissioner Dr. Teresa C. Long said in a statement.

To protect them, they should be vaccinated with a new vaccine, ideally between ages 11 and 12, she said.

Patients who have been diagnosed with pertussis, and those with whom they have come into contact, should be given antibiotics to decrease the spread of the disease. Though it does not decrease the severity or length of the illness, which could last for weeks, it could protect others.

Most children, teenagers and adults recover fully from pertussis. However, infants younger than 6 months and others with suppressed immunity or chronic respiratory problems are at a greater risk of complications.