U.S. sets Thanksgiving record for whooping cough cases
Source: CBS News
December 5, 2024 / 4:44 PM EST
At least 364 pertussis infections were reported to health authorities last week, according to figures published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the worst Thanksgiving week for whooping cough in recent decades.
This tops the previous Thanksgiving record of 228 cases of pertussis which were reported for the week ending Nov. 27, 2010. That year there were 27,550 cases reported by the end of 2010, below the 28,167 already tallied so far this year.
Thanksgiving usually sees a slowdown in cases reported across most diseases, because of delays in testing and reporting around the holiday as well as changes in people going to the doctor. But this year's whooping cough wave is continuing to accelerate in several states this week, including in Ohio, which reported 84 cases. That is the most of any state, and more than the 67 pertussis cases that Ohio reported in the week before.
"Pertussis can be cyclical. After seeing lower numbers of reported cases in the past few years during and after the COVID-19 pandemic nationally, pertussis is now returning to pre-pandemic trends. Ohio is no different," a spokesperson for Ohio's health department said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whooping-cough-record-thanksgiving-2024/
Karasu
(368 posts)Lonestarblue
(11,982 posts)Of course, we will never know the extent of illness in the US because Republicans will not report all the illnesses, just as some states no longer report maternal deaths caused by abortion bans.
SunSeeker
(54,061 posts)Especially if you're around babies, who can't get vaccinated until they're 2 months old. A friend's 1 month old baby came down with whooping cough before she could be vaccinated because idiots in the community are not vaccinated and now it's circulating among the population. That poor tiny baby almost died. Her whole little body convulsed with every gasping cough. It was just awful. My friend was beside herself. It may have done permanent damage to the baby's lungs. Fuck the anti-vaxxers out there, they are doing so much harm.
Stargazer99
(3,016 posts)I think they really want to eliminate the poor but don't want to admit it
BonnieJW
(2,605 posts)They didn't have that vaccine when I was a baby. I had measles, mumps, and a rubella shot, so I'm good there.
I encourage those in my age group to get vaccinated
hatrack
(61,192 posts)Nothing that a little raw milk wouldn't cure . . . .