Whooping cough cases soar in Sonoma County
By KERRY BENEFIELD
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 7:50 p.m.Health officials declared a whooping cough epidemic in California on Wednesday at the same time Sonoma County officials are reporting 48 confirmed cases locally — up from four at the same time last year.
California had 910 recorded cases of whooping cough as of June 15, five of which resulted in deaths. All five deaths were Latino children under 3 months of age.
Infants are particularly at risk from whooping cough because even with a full vaccination schedule that begins at six weeks of age, full protection does not occur until a baby reaches six months, said Mary Maddux-Gonzalez, Sonoma County’s public health officer.
“They are more likely to get it, and they are more vulnerable to the complications,” she saidWednesday. “You really want to make sure that everyone who comes in contact with that child has been appropriately immunized.”
“It’s often transmitted from parents,” she said. “We are really encouraging parents to get immunized.”
Lack of information and inoculations in agricultural regions in the state’s Central Valley — home to many Latino farm workers — might be the reason for the high current incidence in that community, said Dr. Gilberto Chavez, the deputy director of the California Department of Public Health’s Center for Infectious Disease.
Locally, health officials said they have reached out to primary care physicians, day care providers and prenatal support personnel, using a communication system last employed to disseminate information about swine flu.
California is on pace to break a 50-year-old record for annual infections of whooping cough, also known as pertussis...
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