Vaccination advisory over whooping cough concerns

Health officials are encouraging county residents to get ahead of winter sicknesses by getting vaccinated.
At the last Healdsburg District Hospital Board meeting on Sept. 30, Chief Nursing Officer Susan Spoelma mentioned that hospital staff ought to be getting vaccinated against pertussis, or whooping cough, as new cases had been reported in the area.
“As a district hospital, we are aware that there has recently been an increase in whooping cough in the County,” Spoelma said in an email to the Times. “I used this information as a reminder to everyone that it is a dangerous disease especially for infants – and that we should all be vaccinated.”
Health officials warn that whooping cough tends to come in waves or cycles of three-to-five-year intervals. California was struck by one such wave in 2014 with an epidemic of pertussis.
There were 11,203 cases of whooping cough in 2014 in the state, with 704 of those occurring in Sonoma County, the highest rate of incidence in the state and five times the state average. Three infants less than five weeks old died in California as a result of the pertussis outbreak last year.
The state’s Department of Public Health attributed last year’s wave of whooping cough to higher numbers of susceptible people in the population due to waning of immunity following both vaccination and disease.
So far, 2015 has the highest rate of onset for a non-epidemic year since 1950, according to the health department. As of September, there were 27 cases in the county this year and 3,914 statewide. One infant has died so far in California in 2015 as a result of whooping cough.
Dr. Karen Holbrook, Deputy Health Officer at the Department of Health Services for the county, maintained that there is no outbreak in the county, currently.
“We do not have an outbreak, although there are periodic cases,” Holbrook said. “This is nothing unusual. Sonoma County is on the low side of the tally for the year.”
She emphasized that immunizations are important to keep those numbers low, however.
Young infants are at greatest risk of hospitalization and death from pertussis, she said. The county is encouraging pregnant women to receive pertussis vaccine (Tdap) during the third trimester of pregnancy. Pertussis antibodies are transferred from vaccinated mothers to their infants and will help protect them until they are old enough to be vaccinated.
The primary DTaP vaccine series is essential for reducing severe disease in young infants and should not be delayed, according to information published by the state health department. DTaP can be given to infants at an accelerated schedule with the first dose given as early as six weeks of age. Even one dose of DTaP may offer some protection against severe pertussis disease in infants.
“Practice proper hygiene, get immunized and stay up to date on your shots,” Holbrook advised.