Whooping Cough Outbreaks Shows How Vulnerable We Are With So Many Uninsured.

[TheMastersNemesis]

The whooping cough outbreak shows how vulnerable we are with so many uninsured and the GOP planning to add millions more. We are one epidemic away from medical disaster. And the cover up of dangerous TB in Florida really shows how dangerous things can become.

Because TB was so prevalent in the past it was against the law to spit on the street or in public. At that time TB was more untreatable and common than it is today. Now this disease is making a come back. What other disease could be out there waiting to strike.

The GOP wants to do away with public health and public health agencies like disease control and give it to corporations or the churches and charities. Such a policy is unworkable and suicidal.

[slackmaster]

1. The only "insurance" a person needs to protect against pertussis is an inexpensive VACCINATION

In before the anti-vaxers piss on your thread.

[pnwmom]

2. It's not inexpensive for lower income people without insurance. And since the primary

beneficiary of the shot for teens and adults may be someone else's baby (teens and adults usually have a milder illness that can be mistaken for a cold), the cost should be kept as low as possible to encourage people to get it. Actually, I think if we're asking teens and adults to get a shot so that fewer babies die, we should be offering the shot for free. That would be the best way to encourage participation.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2018728966_whoopingcough19m.html

[HopeHoops]

5. My daughters couldn't be vaccinated against it because we have histories of fever convulsions.

Both my wife and I have that in our families and the vaccination is a high risk. They got the DT instead. While they were young, they all caught it. The GP put all five of us on antibiotics and it cleared up in a few days. We avoided exposure to others (and I didn't go to work - doctor's excuse). It passed and now they have the immunity. It's not as deadly as it once was. It just needs treatment and antibiotics should be free to all as a public safety measure (not just for whooping cough - EVERYTHING applicable).

[TheMastersNemesis]

3. There Are Many Diseases That Need More Than An Inexpensive Vaccination.

Epidemics can start from small incidents of infection from contagious pathogens. Few people remember the hunt for Typhoid Mary in the early part of the 20th century. There are many diseases that infect the third world and tropical climates. We are seeing diseases here that were never here before due to climate change.

HIV started in the heart of Africa and quietly spread here before it was recognized for the threat it was and still is. Prevention is often more important than the cure. The threat of transportable disease is more dangerous now than ever when someone who is ill can go anywhere on the planet in a day or less.

The flu outbreak of 1918 proved how fast something can spread. Diseases like Ebola can erupt here just like anywhere else. If there is a large number of uninsured people it is a dangerous to everyone. Having insurance is meaningless in an epidemic or pandemic if you are not able to treat uncovered people.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Or maybe it's because so many have decided against vaccinating their kids.

[lillypaddle]

6. Now what?

According to an article linked below, kids who are getting this have actually had innoculations:

"Some parents in California and other states have rebelled against vaccinations and gotten their children exempted from rules that require them to get their shots to enroll in school. Washington state has one of the highest exemption rates in the nation. But the CDC said that does not appear to be a major factor in the outbreak, since most of the youngsters who got sick had been vaccinated."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/whooping-cough-pertussis-cdc-case_n_1687096.html