Perhaps this has been covered but...Heard this morning on the all-knowing news that the whoopig cough vaccine is no longer affective if you're an adult, that is if you had all your shots when you were a kid.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), October 02, 2001

Answers

Back in my med school days at Washington Univ. in St Louis (1975), it was well known that pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine did not confer a life-long immunity, but if exposed to the virus, a person would get a milder case if at all. That is why in communities where immunizations are not given ( my Amish friends in PA), when an epidemic emerges, adults are encouraged to get either a booster or an initial vaccine to slow the progress of the illness within the community. Outside of closed communities, folks receive what we call "herd immunity". So many folks have been immunized or like folks my age, have actually had the disease, that the chances of the virus flourishing in the wider community are significantly lessened. Folks who have had the actual disease apparently do have life-long immunity. Same with measles. If you actually had measles, you will never get it again. If you had the measles vaccine, you COULD get a mild case if exposed to it without a booster.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 02, 2001.

lol, sorry Lesley(and no offense intended;), I know that is what the medical community says, but I have had measles 3 times(different strains),as have other members of my family. The third time I had the measles the doctor told my mom it was impossible that I had had them before;) On the other hand, only one case was "serious".

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 03, 2001.

Mary, my friend, folks including docs often used to mistake a measles- like rash for measles. For instance, the rash of scarlet fever over the torso looks like measles, the rash of Fifth's disease over the face and arms looks like measles, German measles rash looks like measles, generalized confluent hives can look like measles; I have had patients whose children had numerous flea bites insist their kids had measles and/or chickenpox. It is a totally proven medical fact that having measles provides 100% life-long immunity. Having the measles vaccine does not provide 100% life-long immunity. Before folks ran to the doc for everything, old ladies used to look at the child's rash and make a solemn pronouncement diagnosis. I used to run into this with my Amish patients and it drove me nuts. Aunt Sally, aged 80, would say the baby had "asthma"..period. It was really hard for me to convince the parents that the baby had croup..period.Folks will believe what they wish to believe about anything. All I know is 31 years of experience in the medical field and about 100 years of documented research. Sometimes (like now LOL) I get a tad defensive about these things....it's kinda like a medical person telling a farmer how to grow crops..ya gotta figure the farmer knows more.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 03, 2001.

how does whooping cough reproduce? and show a diagram of how it look like

-- Amanda (titarideking@hotmail.com), April 20, 2004.

how does whooping cough reproduce? and show a diagram of how it look like and by label the diagrams

-- Amanda (titarideking@hotmail.com), April 20, 2004.