Shots mandated for next school year

Friday, March 11, 2011

By Connor Ramey

Health department offering free immunizations at local campuses

next year students entering seven through 12 grades will need to get a new vaccination before they can start school, according to a new state law that goes into effect July 1. Every year after next year, all students entering the seventh grade will need to get the immunization.

The vaccination is a response to a large growth in pertussis, or whooping cough, cases in the past few years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. most recent numbers show that more than 17,000 cases of whooping cough were reported throughout the country in 2009, affecting mostly infants and teens.

In 2010, 10 infant deaths were reported in California, and state authorities declared it an epidemic. the state Assembly approved bill 354 last year to help prevent future deaths.

In San Benito County, eight cases were reported, an increase from one that was reported in 2008, county public nurse Allison Griffin said. two cases to infants have been reported in the county this year.

But the actual number could be much larger because of unreported cases, she said.

“A lot of these type of case are unreported because people don’t see their doctors,” Griffin said. “I’m sure there are more of them.”

Whooping cough symptoms include a runny nose, low-grade fever and rapid deep coughs that are followed by a high-pitched “whoop,” according to the CDC. the disease can lead to death if untreated because of exhaustion and the inability to breathe normally.

The bill makes the “Tdap” shot mandatory for every student entering the seventh grade. For one year only, all students from seventh to twelfth grade will need to take the shot to start school, San Benito County Director of Nursing Jeanne Melius said.

The “Tdap” is a vaccination that protects against whooping cough, tetanus and dipheria. It’s a continuation shot that toddlers are expected to get between ages four to six, Melius said.

To help parents give their children the vaccination, nurses from the county’s health department are making stops at each middle and high school in the county throughout the rest of the year.

Each school will give a release form to every parent to allow students to get their shots at school, Melius said. Students must bring back the release form to get the shots.

The vaccinations are free for low- income families and $17 for others.

From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Wednesday at 439 Fourth St. in Hollister, the health department will hold appointment-only vaccination clinics for families that wish to get the vaccination. Families are encouraged to get the vaccine from their primary care physicians, if it is available, before contacting the health department.

For more information contact the Public Health Division at 637-5367 or visit shotsforschool.org.

Connor Ramey Connor Ramey is a staff reporter. He can be reached at .

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Uploaded: Sunday, February 6, 2011, 12:51 PM                                            

Schools to require new vaccine for pertussis Law mandating pertussis booster for seventh through 12th grade students follows whooping cough deaths in 2010

by Chris KenrickPalo Alto Online Staff

Starting this fall, California public and private schools will require students in grades 7 through 12 to have a booster shot against pertussis, better known as whooping cough. The mandate — which follows the death of 10 California infants in a whooping cough epidemic last year — comes from a new law signed last September by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation has “no shortage” of the vaccination, a spokeswoman said. “The new state regulation says that all students between seventh and 12th grade need (the pertussis booster) because the childhood vaccination doesn’t give lifelong immunity,” Medical Foundation Public Affairs Manager Cynthia Greaves said. for the 2011-12 school year, all students entering any grade from 7 to 12 will need proof of the booster, known as Tdap. for 2012-13 and future school years, all students entering seventh grade — or those newly registering for seventh through 12th grade in a California district or private school — will need proof of the Tdap booster. more information is posted at shotsforschool.org, sponsored by the California Department of Public Health. The agency is urging parents not to wait for the new school year to get children vaccinated since “there will be no grace period, and the regulations will be strictly enforced.” The Palo Alto Medical Foundation — whose patient population includes 60,000 children in the seventh- to twelfth-grade age group stretching from Watsonville to San Mateo County to the East Bay — has identified which of those already have had the booster and which have not. The foundation recently mailed proof of vaccination to parents of children who have had the booster that will be acceptable to school officials, PAMF Director of Communications and Public Affairs Jill Antonides said. in the coming weeks, the foundation will mail reminders about the new law to parents of children who have not yet had the Tdap booster, Antonides said. in calendar 2010, 8,383 cases of whooping cough, including the 10 infant deaths, were reported throughout California, according to a preliminary count by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was the highest number of reported cases since 1947, when 9,934 cases were reported, and the highest incidence of cases since 1958, when there were 26 cases per 100,000 population, the CDC said.

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Comments

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Feb 6, 2011 at 5:26 pm

I hope parents don’t start whining that this vaccine causes polio or Parkinson’s or brain melt or my-kid’s-not-gonna-be-perfect-if-they’re-vaccinated syndrome or any other bull puckey medical condition.

Posted by californian…..no more, a resident of another community, on Feb 6, 2011 at 8:37 pm

if you get this shot, you will get whooping cough!!! do not get it. they inject the virus into you so you get it and they get their money and you come back and pay for medicine. this shot will give you the virus and its contagious and other people might get it too. so i advise for you not to get it. thank you.

Posted by Wife of M.D., a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2011 at 10:16 pm

Oh, please, Californian, get real. that is how ALL vaccines work. Inject the person with a small amount of either dead or live virus, the antibodies build up in the body so when the person is exposed to a large amount of the virus, the body already has antibodies to fight it off so the person does not get sick. The vaccines have such a small amount of the virus in them so a person does not actually develop symptoms of the virus.

Whooping cough is a serious illness which lasts for at least a month of coughing until one nearly vomits.

The live viruses do make a person remotely contagious (stay away from newborns and those with compromised immune systems) while the dead ones do not. The flumist is a live virus, vs. the injection.

Posted by person……, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Feb 6, 2011 at 10:17 pm

what would you recommend?

Posted by Jeff, a resident of another community, on Feb 6, 2011 at 10:24 pm

The shot is NOT mandatory! Parents can sign a personal beliefs exemption form if they don’t want their kids to get the shot. Web Link

And before allowing the shot, parents should at least read the package insert. There are 2 brands of Tdap vaccine.

Posted by Wife of M.D., a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2011 at 11:37 pm

Whooping cough is highly contagious and cough syrup does nothing for the symptoms. even those who have been vaccinated can catch the virus but symptoms will be less.

From the CDC: Web Link

Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from the lungs and you are forced to inhale with a loud “whooping” sound. this extreme coughing can cause you to throw up and be very tired. The “whoop” is often not there and the infection is generally milder (less severe) in teens and adults, especially those who have been vaccinated.

Early symptoms can last for 1 to 2 weeks and usually include:

?Low-grade fever (generally minimal throughout the course of the disease)

?Mild, occasional cough

?Apnea ? a pause in breathing (in infants)

Because pertussis in its early stages appears to be nothing more than the common cold, it is often not suspected or diagnosed until the more severe symptoms appear. Infected people are most contagious during this time, up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics may shorten the amount of time someone is contagious.

As the disease progresses, the traditional symptoms of pertussis appear and include:

?Paroxysms (fits) of many, rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched “whoop”

?Vomiting (throwing up)

?Exhaustion (very tired) after coughing fits

The coughing fits can go on for up to 10 weeks or more. in China, pertussis is known as the “100 day cough.”

Although you are often exhausted after a coughing fit, you usually appear fairly well in-between. Coughing fits generally become more common and severe as the illness continues, and can occur more often at night. The illness can be milder (less severe) and the typical “whoop” absent in children, teens, and adults who have been vaccinated.

Recovery from pertussis can happen slowly. The cough becomes less severe and less common. however, coughing fits can return with other respiratory infections for many months after pertussis started.

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Feb 7, 2011 at 12:28 am

Apparently, the shot is mandatory. Of course, there are loopholes, as there always are in these PC my-child-is-oh-so-special times. There are always selfish people who don’t want their child inoculated but they count on the majority being so, and piggy back on the them.

Posted by mark, a resident of the University South neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 12:45 am

What does Whooping Cough sound like?

Glad we have the internet: Web Link

Posted by gunn parent, a member of the Gunn High School community, on Feb 7, 2011 at 11:49 am

So parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids..their kids will be the one who end up getting whooping cough.

Survival of the strongest. Feel sorry for the ignorant , paranoid parents who do not protect their kids.

Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 12:11 pm

no, their kids will just be carriers.

Posted by mark, a resident of the University South neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 12:54 pm

Gunn Parent: the sad truth is that Californian’s kids are likely to be fine (relatively) – but they will pass it onto another family who ends up infecting a one year old or a newborn, who in turns dies. that is what’s so incideous about pertussis…to most people it’s like a long cold or flu (what Wife of MD describes), but it is exceptionally dangerous to young children.

Posted by Sarah, a resident of Los Altos, on Feb 7, 2011 at 2:28 pm

The pertussis vaccine does not prevent transmission. It only makes pertussis more mild. Vaccinated people can and do transmit the bacteria to others.

Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 3:58 pm

Apparently adults are just as capable of spreading this bacteria. If it’s so dangerous, why are we not ALL required to be revaccinated? Is the workplace or public transit any less conducive to infection than the classroom?

Posted by EcoMama, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 6:13 pm

A friend of a friend lost her newborn to whooping cough. Her own vaccinations were out of date. All adults are supposed to get boosters every 10 years (pertussis, as well as tetanus and diptheria, is part of what’s covered by the TDAP or DTAP, as my doc referred to it). What the district is suggesting is not outrageous; kids received these vaccinations as babies, and it’s just a booster. for goodness sake, set aside paranoia and ask a doctor. And then ask yourself: could you live with yourself if you passed a fatal illness along to a child?

I wish I new of a pro-vaccine movement … there needs to be a loud one to make exceptions harder to come by. this paranoia over advanced medicine that we’re lucky to have access to drives me nuts.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 9:04 pm

Found a study published by the Royal Society, the prestigious U.K. based science group, saying the whooping cough outbreak is being caused by a mutated bacteria.

According to the Society, the widely used aP vaccination makes the “host”, i.e. our children, more susceptible to the mutated bacteria.

The current whooping cough vaccine does not protect against this new mutated strain.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 9:09 pm

from the Royal Society abstract on the pertussis vaccine:

“Despite over 50 years of population-wide vaccination, whooping cough incidence is on the rise. although Bordetella pertussis is considered the main causative agent of whooping cough in humans, Bordetella parapertussis infections are not uncommon. The widely used acellular whooping cough vaccines (aP) are comprised solely of B. pertussis antigens that hold little or no efficacy against B. parapertussis.” Web Link published 2010.

Posted by Abstract reader, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 9:11 pm

“According to the Society, the widely used aP vaccination makes the “host”, i.e. our children, more susceptible to the mutated bacteria.”

Not quite. The study was performed on rodents, not humans.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 9:15 pm

The New York Times also reported, Web Link, that:

“The rise in pertussis doesn’t seem to be related to parents’ refusing to have their children vaccinated for fear of potential side effects.

in California, pertussis rates are about the same in counties with high childhood vaccination rates and low ones. And the C.D.C. reports that pertussis immunization rates have been stable or increasing since 1992.”

when disease incidence statistics publicized by state health departments do not match those published by federal health agencies, there is something wrong.

It is time for California health officials to fully disclose complete details of the 1,500 whooping cough cases they allege have occurred in the state during the past year, including how many cases were lab confirmed as B. pertussis; how many cases were classified as “epidemiologically linked” – which means they were NOT lab confirmed; and the ages and vaccination status of all cases, including whether people with suspected or confirmed cases had been given 1,2,3,4,5,6 or more pertussis shots.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2011 at 9:19 pm

There are children, who are at higher risk for becoming brain injured or dying after getting pertussis containing vaccines (DTaP, Tdap), including those who have suffered previous vaccine reactions like:22 ,23

* very high fever

* High pitched screaming or persistent crying

* Convulsions (with or without fever)

* Collapse/shock (also known as hypo-tonic/hypo-responsive episodes)

* Brain Inflammation and encephalopathy

For a full list of precautions for children, teenagers and adults, read the manufacturer product inserts and get more information about how to recognize a vaccine reaction at NVIC.org.

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Feb 7, 2011 at 11:11 pmHmmm is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

EcoMama – as usual, you are a voice of reason – thanks for your post.

Posted by Fleur de Lis, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Feb 10, 2011 at 11:37 amFleur de Lis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

My husband was vaccinated for whooping cough and then still got it as a teen, but believes it was more mild because of having been vaccinated. He recently had the Tdap when in for a recent check-up. With children in preschool, I was aware that the other children who appeared the most runny nosed and sick all the time were the ones whose parents were against vaccinations. so, I believe in safe guarding my child by vaccinating, knowing at least that if my child does get sick, at least it will be more mild than had I not had my child vaccinated. Better safe than sorry.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 10, 2011 at 11:46 am

I cannot speak for other kids, but my son was not vaccinated, and he stays healthy while other kids who have been vaccinated come down with fevers, runny noses, colds, etc.

I believe it is the vitamin D and C I give him.

Posted by Wife of M.D., a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 10, 2011 at 12:18 pm

@Mom of Adobe: you are relying on your own experience and anecdotes rather than medical research of thousands of people. There are many variables to what you have witnessed, such as – perhaps those kids attend daycare on a regular basis, their parents don’t wash their hands often enough, etc. If your child is exposed to a contagious virus, the vitamins will not ward off the virus.

Linus Pauling’s research on Vitamin C to avoid colds has been proved flawed: Web Link

Research on the vaccine link to autism has been proved a fraud: Web Link

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Feb 10, 2011 at 6:53 pm

There was also a study showing that all vitamins are expelled by the body. The vitamin D thing has been disproven I thought as well, but I might be wrong. It was the latest hyped vitamin. It’s pretty interesting that people are so anti-vax. where I find it relevant is questioning the wisdom of vaccinating older dogs & cats who are either always onleash or kept indoors.

I’ve been frustrated by the parents whose kids piggyback on the ones who who’ve been vaccinated. most of them, in my experience, are new agers who buy into fake science.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 11, 2011 at 12:49 pm

wife of M.D. – gimme a break – quackwatch.com? that is the best you can do? LOL

Everyone knows you cure scurvy with limes. Vitamin C works. That’s elementary school knowledge.

The problem with wife of M.D. is that your husband has a vested interest in promoting vaccination because, it’s one of his revenue sources.

Posted by mom, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 11, 2011 at 1:12 pm

On the unethical advertising of the HPV vaccine: Web Link

(NaturalNews) The horrors caused by Merck & co.’s Gardasil vaccine and GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Cervarix vaccine continue as six young girls recently died from the shots during an experimental Indian trial. The two human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been implicated in at least 67 deaths in the U.S., prompting no response from U.S. officials other than to keep pushing it on the public, but the six deaths in India have prompted the government there to immediately stop all trials of the vaccines.

Merck, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, etc. all those big drug companies that make money off vaccinating your kids all do it for profit. they will stop at nothing to make sure they profit. they will use scare tactics and smear campaigns to ensure that you vaccinate. this is all in the name of PROFIT.

Wife of M.D. I do not buy into your scare tactics and, frankly, unpersuasive attempts to dissuade me from natural, whole food sources of vitamins to ensure the health of my family. you can go ahead and drug up your kids with all the vaccines and drugs your drug company wants you to have. but no thanks for me.

Because no drug company can patent what is the best medicine on earth: and that is FOOD. Hippocrates said it best, “Let food be they medicine.”

But your local drug company would love nothing more than to serve you up a cocktail of guardasil, cervarix, trepdia, infanrix, daptacel,… you name it. And scare you into thinking that if you do not your risk your life. Your life hangs on these drugs.

It is a shame. The drug companies are using the oldest trick in the book. And most people buy into it. Because it is profitable, very profitable.

Posted by Wife of M.D., a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 11, 2011 at 1:14 pm

I was not going to spend a lot of time surfing for links about Linus Pauling’s bogus research. There are plenty of links and that one appeared first.

Your knowledge of life is questionable. Vitamin C does not work or your children would never catch a cold. Can you tell me how my husband is paid by the drug companies? that is so far-fetched that it amazes me that one could even think such B.S.

THERE'S new hope for an overlooked epidemic: Two powerful drugs are nearing the market that promise to help cure many more people of liver-attacking hepatitis C – even though most who have the simmering infection don't know it yet.

Surprisingly, two-thirds of hepatitis C sufferers are thought to be baby boomers who’ve harboured since their younger, perhaps wilder, years a virus that can take two or three decades to do its damage.

What could be a treatment revolution is spurring the government to consider if it’s time to start screening aging baby boomers for hepatitis C, just like they get various cancer checks.

"We’re entering a whole new era of therapy," says Dr John Ward, hepatitis chief at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. "We really want to begin that clarion call for action for this population who’s at risk."

Today’s two-drug treatment for hepatitis C cures only about 40 per cent of people with the most common variety of the virus, and causes some grueling side effects. Now major studies show that adding a new drug – either Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ telaprevir or Merck & Co’s boceprevir – can boost those cure rates as high as 75 per cent. and they allow some people to cut treatment time in half, to six months, thus lessening how long they must deal with those side effects.

If the Food and Drug Administration approves the drugs - a decision widely expected this summer - they would be the first that work by directly targeting the hepatitis C virus. Specialists draw comparisons to the early 1990s when potent combination therapies emerged to treat AIDS. Many recently diagnosed patients are postponing therapy to await these new drug cocktails in hopes of a better chance at a faster cure, says Dr Paul Pockros, hepatology chief at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, who helped test telaprevir.

However, the bigger impact could come if more people get tested for hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus. It’s often stigmatised as a risk only to people who inject illegal drugs. But the virus could have begun festering from a blood transfusion before 1992, when testing of the blood supply began.

Lapses in infection control in health facilities still occasionally expose people today. So could even a one-time experiment with drugs way back in college, something doctors are reluctant to ask a now middle-aged, button-downed patient to reveal, says Ward.

"It cuts across every segment of society," adds Dr Arun Sanyal of Virginia Commonwealth University, past president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. "I can tell you our hepatitis C treatment clinic is a great social equaliser."

About 3.2 million Americans, and 170 million people worldwide, have chronic hepatitis C. in the US, new infections have dropped dramatically - although the disease’s toll is rising as people infected decades earlier reach ages where their livers start showing damage. Hepatitis C already is a leading cause of liver transplants, and it kills about 12,000 US patients a year, a number expected to triple within 20 years.

Most people find out they’re infected like Brian Graham of Briarcliff Manor, New York, during a routine check-up that spotted elevated liver enzymes. He’d never heard of hepatitis C and had no obvious risk factors. But tests showed the virus had begun to scar his liver. So over the last decade he tried three rounds of traditional treatments, with increasingly tough side effects, to no avail.

"I didn’t want to die of liver disease or cancer or suffer the prospect of having to tee up for a liver transplant. Scary stuff," says mr Graham, now 56.

Enter the new drugs. They work by blocking an enzyme named protease that’s key for the virus to reproduce. But they must be taken together with standard medications - ribavirin pills plus injections of interferon-alpha - that are thought to boost the immune system.

According to studies presented at a recent medical meeting, 67 per cent to 75 per cent of patients given treatment including either boceprevir or telaprevir, respectively, had what doctors call a cure. That’s defined as no sign of the hepatitis C virus six months after their last dose. Importantly, only about a quarter of black patients are helped by standard therapy but adding one of the new drugs more than doubled their cure rates.

People getting their first-ever treatment did best, but the studies also found improvements in hard-to-treat patients like mr Graham.

"The fourth time did the trick," says mr Graham, who volunteered for an early telaprevir study and says he’s been hepatitis-free for three years.

The new drugs do add side effects to the flulike symptoms and other complaints of existing treatment. Telaprevir’s main risk is a rash that is sometimes severe, and boceprevir’s is anemia.

"The future looks very bright beyond telaprevir and boceprevir," notes Dr Fred Poordad of Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, who has studied both drugs and consults for several companies. he points to additional drugs in earlier-stage testing that promise to target more types of hepatitis C and perhaps eventually allow for pill-only, interferon-free treatment.

Manufacturers haven’t said how much the new drugs will add to the price of treatment that already can cost $30,000, albeit far cheaper than a liver transplant.

A stickier issue: Not everyone suffers serious liver damage and it’s hard to predict who will, raising questions about exactly who needs treatment even as drug companies help push for more screening."

That’s a concern, acknowledges Jeff Levi of the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health, also a screening proponent. But when to treat is a doctor-patient decision, and "anyone with chronic infection you do want to be monitoring so you can intervene at the right moment," he adds.

Plus, people with hepatitis C should avoid alcohol and consider other liver-protection steps - and know how to avoid infecting others, he stresses.

Stay tuned: The CDC has begun a study at four hospitals - in New York, Detroit, Houston and Birmingham, Alabama - to see if a one-time hepatitis C test for baby boomers makes sense. Among the boomers, black men in their 50s are at particular risk. CDC plans new guidelines next year.

Meanwhile, "start that conversation" at a routine doctor’s visit by asking about hepatitis C risks and testing, Dr Ward advises boomers.

Like what are symptoms and how often do they occur and effect your daily like?

If you don't go to the doctor and have drug, you may die from Hep c.

Maybe you can ask this question at the STD social and dating site called pozcupid .com. they are professional.

I will copy this from my Dr. Symptoms- develop in only 25-35 percent of the patients who acquire acute Hepatitis C and are often very nonspecific. therefore, the disease is on ly rarely diagnosed at this phase. Seventy five to 85 percent of patients infected with acute Hepatitis C will develop a persistent infection called Cronic Hep. C.
Some patients may be discovered to have Hep. C when they are found to have abnormalities of routine liver lad tests. Cronic Hep C is referred to as a silent epidemic as many times those affected are asymptomatic or may present with very non specific symptoms such as Fatigue. I hope I helped some.

CARACAS (AFP) – more than 20 Venezuelans returned from a wedding last weekend in the Dominican Republic with cholera-like symptoms and are being quarantined at clinics in Caracas, officials said Wednesday.

"it has been confirmed that they were infected in the Dominican Republic," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said as he sought to reassure his nation that there was little to no risk of the disease spreading.

Although doctors had already confirmed that some of the 21 Venezuelans quarantined had cholera, Health Minister Eugenia Sader described the chances of an epidemic in Venezuela as "slim."

"We have suspected and confirmed cases of cholera in the country," Sader said. "We can rest easy. We have an excellent water distribution network and all we are asking is that everyone takes appropriate precautions."

The waterborne bacterial disease, which dehydrates victims but can be easily treated, has claimed nearly 4,000 lives in Haiti, the Caribbean nation that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Sader said some 400 people had attended the wedding last Saturday in Santo Domingo and that another 12 Venezuelans were still in clinics in the Dominican Republic with suspected cholera.

Four other wedding guests with cholera-like symptoms had returned to Boston, Madrid and Mexico and "were being taken care of at this time," she added.

Despite the minimal risks, Sader urged Venezuelans to observe simple measures like washing their hands and washing food before eating it.

"It's in the next 24 to 48 hours that we will avoid the emergence of indigenous cases," she said.

The Dominican Republic, which has registered 238 cases since early January, reported its first death from the waterborne bacterial infection on Sunday. the victim had recently returned from Haiti.

The Haiti epidemic, which erupted in October, spawned deadly anti-UN riots in November as some turned their anger on peacekeepers from Nepal accused of bringing the disease into the country.

Venezuela suffered a major cholera outbreak in 1992 that killed 68 people and infected more than 2,800 others, according to UN figures.

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School officials are urging parents to keep their children at home if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms such as fever, runny nose, sore throat, chills or body aches.

Woodleaf Elementary and Southeast Middle have seen surges in absenteeism due to illness.

at least 60 students missed school every day last week at Woodleaf.

“We’ve been involved in this epidemic for the past two weeks,” Woodleaf Principal Sue Herrington said.

Martha Cline, who tracks student attendance at the school, said this week started with 73 students out Monday. nearly 60 students were absent Thursday.

she said the average daily rate of absenteeism is between 15 and 20 students for the 448-member student body.

“The numbers are running quite high,” she said. “most of this is due to a lot of stomach virus, strep throat and flu symptoms.”

Traci Collins, school nurse at Woodleaf, Cleveland and Mount Ulla elementary schools, said several schools have sent out an automated ConnectEd message to parents.

“We shared with them that we are starting to see an increase in our community with the flu and the flu-like symptoms,” she said. “Our goal is to keep students and staff as healthy as possible.”

Collins said although she hasn’t seen as many students miss days at Cleveland and Mount Ulla, the illness is widespread.

she said the ConnectEd message explained that children should be fever free for 24 hours, without using fever reducers such as Tylenol or Advil, before returning to school.

Principal Skip Kraft said rampant illness has impacted class at Southeast Middle School this week.

“you can see it in the classrooms, when you look in you see five or six empty desks,” he said.

Typically, about 30 to 35 students are absent each day, but this week there have been more than 100 students out each day.

Southeast has a student population of about 700.

Kraft said the week began with 118 students absent Monday. By Thursday that number had dwindled to 103.

“It’s a huge concern for us because we are just coming off a big break from snow,” Kraft he said. “We don’t want to get behind.”

although he’s worried about students having to play catch-up, Kraft said he doesn’t want them coming to school sick.

“We want them here every day, but we want them here healthy,” he said. “We can’t continue to expose and re-expose children.

“I wish I had a bag of pixie dust I would sprinkle it over the school to make everyone healthy.”

Both Woodleaf and Southeast have reported confirmed cases of the flu.

Rita Foil, the Rowan-Salisbury School system public information officer, said although not all schools have experienced high absenteeism, the district has been working to educate parents.

“there are different avenues of communication that principals can use to inform parents about concerns with flu …” she said.

Foil said besides sending out ConnectEd messages, information can be sent home in school newsletters.

“Our district has recorded a radio spot discussing the flu season.”

Districtwide attendance numbers were not available Thursday.

Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.

WASHINGTON – There’s new hope for an overlooked epidemic: two powerful drugs are nearing the market that promise to help cure many more people of liver-attacking hepatitis C – even though most who have the simmering infection don’t know it yet.

Surprisingly, two-thirds of hepatitis C sufferers are thought to be baby boomers who’ve harbored since their younger, perhaps wilder, years a virus that can take two or three decades to do its damage.

What could be a treatment revolution is spurring the government to consider if it’s time to start screening aging baby boomers for hepatitis C, just like they get various cancer checks.

“We’re entering a whole new era of therapy,” says Dr. John Ward, hepatitis chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We really want to begin that clarion call for action for this population who’s at risk.”

Today’s two-drug treatment for hepatitis C cures only about 40 percent of people with the most common variety of the virus, and causes some grueling side effects. Now major studies show that adding a new drug – either Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ telaprevir or Merck & co.’s boceprevir – can boost those cure rates as high as

75 percent. and they allow some people to cut treatment time in half, to six months, thus lessening how long they must deal with those side effects.

If the Food and Drug Administration approves the drugs – a decision widely expected this summer – they would be the first that work by directly targeting the hepatitis C virus. Specialists draw comparisons to the early 1990s when potent combination therapies emerged to treat AIDS. Many recently diagnosed patients are postponing therapy to await these new drug cocktails in hopes of a better chance at a faster cure, says Dr. Paul Pockros, hepatology chief at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, who helped test telaprevir.

However, the bigger impact could come if more people get tested for hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus. It’s often stigmatized as a risk only to people who inject illegal drugs. But the virus could have begun festering from a blood transfusion before 1992, when testing of the blood supply began.

Lapses in infection control in health facilities still occasionally expose people today. so could even a one-time experiment with drugs way back in college, something doctors are reluctant to ask a now middle-

aged, button-downed patient to reveal, says Ward.

“It cuts across every segment of society,” adds Dr. Arun Sanyal of Virginia Commonwealth University, past president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. “I can tell you our hepatitis C treatment clinic is a great social equalizer.”

About 3.2 million Americans, and 170 million people worldwide, have chronic hepatitis C. In the U.S., new infections have dropped dramatically – although the disease’s toll is rising as people infected decades earlier reach ages where their livers start showing damage. Hepatitis C already is a leading cause of liver transplants, and it kills about 12,000 U.S. patients a year, a number expected to triple within 20 years.

Most people find out they’re infected like Brian Graham of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., during a routine check-up that spotted elevated liver enzymes. He’d never heard of hepatitis C and had no obvious risk factors. But tests showed the virus had begun to scar his liver. so over the past decade he tried three rounds of traditional treatments, with increasingly tough side effects, to no avail.

“I didn’t want to die of liver disease or cancer or suffer the prospect of having to tee up for a liver transplant.

Scary stuff,” says Graham, now 56.

Enter the new drugs. they work by blocking an enzyme named protease that’s key for the virus to reproduce. But they must be taken together with standard medications – ribavirin pills plus injections of interferon-alpha – that are thought to boost the immune system.

According to studies presented at a recent medical meeting, 67 percent to 75 percent of patients given treatment including either boceprevir or telaprevir, respectively, had what doctors call a cure. That’s defined as no sign of the hepatitis C virus six months after their last dose. Importantly, only about a quarter of black patients are helped by standard therapy but adding one of the new drugs more than doubled their cure rates.

People getting their first-

ever treatment did best, but the studies also found improvements in hard-to-treat patients like Graham.

“The fourth time did the trick,” says Graham, who volunteered for an early telaprevir study and says he’s been hepatitis-free for three years.

The new drugs do add side effects to the flulike symptoms and other complaints of existing treatment. Telaprevir’s main risk is a rash that is sometimes severe, and boceprevir’s is anemia.

“The future looks very bright beyond telaprevir and boceprevir,” notes Dr. Fred Poordad of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who has studied both drugs and consults for several companies. He points to additional drugs in earlier-

stage testing that promise to target more types of hepatitis C and perhaps eventually allow for pill-only, interferon-free treatment.

Manufacturers haven’t said how much the new drugs will add to the price of treatment that already can cost $30,000, albeit far cheaper than a liver transplant.

A stickier issue: Not everyone suffers serious liver damage and it’s hard to predict who will, raising questions about exactly who needs treatment even as drug companies help push for more screening.”

That’s a concern, acknowledges Jeff Levi of the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health, also a screening proponent. But when to treat is a doctor-patient decision, and “anyone with chronic infection you do want to be monitoring so you can intervene at the right moment,” he adds.

Plus, people with hepatitis C should avoid alcohol and consider other liver-protection steps – and know how to avoid infecting others, he stresses.

Stay tuned: The CDC has begun a study at four hospitals – in new York, Detroit, Houston and Birmingham, Ala. – to see if a one-time hepatitis C test for baby boomers makes sense. among the boomers, black men in their 50s are at particular risk. CDC plans new guidelines next year.

Meanwhile, “start that conversation” at a routine doctor’s visit by asking about hepatitis C risks and testing, Ward advises boomers.

HEALTH

Since 2007, Montgomery County has seen numbers more than quadruple to 140 cases last year.

Montgomery County saw a dramatic rise in whooping cough cases last year, a national trend that prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a public health alert.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory illness characterized by a persistent loud cough that makes it hard to breathe. The disease most commonly affects infants and young children and can be deadly, especially in babies less than a year old.

Nationally, public health officials have been alarmed by recent outbreaks of the disease, particularly in California where it’s considered a statewide epidemic.

Since the 1980s, there’s been an increase nationally in the number of whooping cough cases, especially among children between 10 and 19 years old and babies younger than 6 months of age. in 2009, nearly 17,000 cases were reported, including 14 deaths.

Preliminary data for Pennsylvania shows whooping cough cases jumped from 557 to 899 between 2009 and last year – a 61 percent increase, according to the state Department of Health.

But Montgomery County has seen numbers more than quadruple since 2007, to 140 cases last year including one fatality involving an infant 2 months old, according to preliminary county health department numbers. That is the highest number since 2006 when 111 cases were reported.

Forty percent of the cases last year involved a single, under-vaccinated school community, health department spokeswoman Harriet Morton said. she did not identify the school where the outbreak occurred.

In Bucks County, whooping cough cases are stable, ranging from a low of 14 in 2007 to a high of 26 last year, according to county health department Director Dr. David Damsker.

U.S. children are routinely vaccinated against the disease, but the vaccines are not 100-percent effective. Also vaccine protection fades over time, which means teens and adults become susceptible to the infection.

"It’s something you see in adults more than we used to," said Dr. Richard Tepper, an infectious disease specialist at Holy Redeemer Medical Center in Abington, which is hosting a free vaccine safety seminar on Tuesday night featuring Dr. Paul Offitt, the nation’s most outspoken advocate for childhood immunizations.

The increase in adult whooping cough cases is one reason why the CDC last week issued a new recommendation that adults over age 65 get a booster of the Tdap vaccine, which also protects against tetanus and diphtheria.

The Tdap vaccine for adults has been available since 2005, Tepper said. Holy Redeemer offers it free to new moms after they deliver to protect them and their infant.

Montgomery County health officials have not identified what’s behind the increase in whooping cough cases, but Morton cited as likely sources decreasing immunity among teens and adults and more unvaccinated children, as well as a new, more sensitive test to confirm the disease.

She added the county began offering Tdap boosters at its 2010-11 flu clinics, and administered 757 doses of the vaccine. The county also now will offer boosters to adults 65 and older who had not previously been vaccinated.

Holy Redeemer’s Tepper suspects the increase is more cyclical than anything else. Whooping cough outbreaks tend to appear every five years.

In adults with waning immunity protection, the symptoms can appear as nothing more than a persistent bad cough, so they’re more likely to spread it to children, Tepper said.

If more adults get the booster vaccine, Tepper suspects the number of cases will drop.

Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at 215-949-4181 or . for more health and fitness information, visit Jo’s blog, Working my Butt off, at phillyBurbs.com/opinions/blogs/ courier_blogs/jo_ciavaglia.html. Follow Jo on Twitter at twitter.com/jociavaglia.

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IF YOU GO

Holy Redeemer Hospital will be holding a free community forum on vaccination safety on Feb. 1 from 7 to 8 p.m. The event features Dr. Paul Offitt, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, chief of infectious diseases at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the nation’s most outspoken advocate for childhood immunizations.

He will discuss the importance and controversy surrounding vaccines for infants, children and adults.

The event will take place in the Holy Redeemer Hospital Auditorium, first floor. The hospital is located at 1648 Huntingdon Pike, Abington.

To register call 1-800-818-4747 or register online at holyredeemer.com. Free parking is available in the hospital garage.

ALL ABOUT WHOOPING COUGH

Pertussis, better known as whooping cough is a highly contagious disease caused by a type of bacteria called Bordetella pertussis

. Among vaccine-preventable diseases, pertussis is one of the most commonly occurring ones in the United States.

Teens and adults need to be revaccinated, even if they were completely vaccinated as children. Pertussis vaccines are not 100-percent effective. If the disease is circulating in the community, there is a chance that a fully vaccinated person can catch it

The disease starts like the common cold, with runny nose or congestion, sneezing, and maybe mild cough or fever. but after one or two weeks, severe coughing can begin. unlike the common cold, pertussis can become a series of coughing fits that continues for weeks. Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from the lungs and you are forced to inhale with a loud "whooping" sound. in infants, the cough can be minimal or not even there. Infants may have a symptom known as "apnea." Apnea is a pause in the child’s breathing pattern.

Pertussis is most severe for babies; more than half of infants younger than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized. About 1 in 5 infants with pertussis get pneumonia and about 1 in 100 will have convulsions. in rare cases it can be deadly, especially in infants

People with pertussis usually spread the disease by coughing or sneezing while in close contact with others, who then breathe in the pertussis bacteria. many infants who get pertussis are infected by parents, older siblings, or other caregivers who might not even know they have the disease.

Babies are most vulnerable before they can have their first vaccine against pertussis at two months of age. Children are not fully protected until they have received the complete course of vaccination by age 7.

The CDC recommends a single pertussis booster for any adult aged 19 to 64 who is in close contact with a baby, particularly parents, grandparents, babysitters and healthcare workers who work with infants.

Adults who didn’t get the tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) booster vaccine as a pre-teen or teen should get one dose of Tdap instead of their next regular tetanus and diphtheria (Td) booster vaccine. Most pregnant women who were not previously vaccinated with Tdap should get one dose of Tdap postpartum before leaving the hospital or birthing center. The CDC also recommends the Tdap booster vaccine to protect adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Free whooping cough vaccinations are now available to WA parents with young children.

State Health Minister Kim Hames says parents should take advantage of the vaccine to help prevent the spread of the infection to their babies, who are the most vulnerable to catching it.

“Australian research has shown that about 50 per cent of babies who catch whooping cough get it from a family member, most usually a parent,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Often a parent won't even know they have the infection because they may have more mild symptoms and don't often produce the 'whoop' after a coughing spell, like young children and babies do.”

The free vaccines will be available from maternity hospitals and community health immunisation centres until June 30, 2011, with a possible extension pending an assessment of uptake and ongoing need.

Dr Hames said although WA had received fewer whooping cough notifications than other states and territories over the past five years, infection rates were rising since the last severe epidemic in 2004.

Whooping cough can cause severe health problems in young babies, including pneumonia, seizures and in some cases, permanent disability or death.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is an acute respiratory infection transmitted through respiratory droplets when an infected person talks, sneezes or coughs.

The classic 'whooping' sound associated with pertussis is created when a patient is forced to breathe in vigorously in order to catch their breath following an extended coughing fit.

Nairobi — was 2010 a healthy or healthier year for you? Over the last 12 months, the health sector has been vibrant with the goal of leading Kenya to becoming a healthier nation.

At least 60 cholera deaths and over 3,000 suspected cases were reported in the first six months of 2010, raising fears of an epidemic due to poor sanitation and heavy rains.

Although the number was smaller than the 86 reported in the same period in 2009, it brought into focus the twin urban challenges of poor sanitation and hygiene and water and air pollution.

Most of the cholera cases were reported in slums where contamination of water and food could have been caused by uncollected garbage.

And with almost 90 per cent of all child deaths attributable to just conditions: neonatal causes, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and HIV/Aids, Kenya could be on the right track to achieving Millennium Development Goal number four, aimed at cutting mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

The price of anti-malaria drugs was made affordable. with the cost of an adult’s dosage at Sh40 and that of a child at Sh10, the move was expected to provide drugs at the nearest chemist or health facility, curbing incidences of drug resistance.

But pharmacies sampled by the Nation from Nairobi, Mombasa, Naivasha and Meru were found selling the drugs at inflated prices of between Sh50 and Sh240 instead of the recommended Sh40 for an adult’s dosage.

Close to 300,000 children below five years old in western Kenya underwent polio vaccination, according to the Ministry of Public Health after neighbouring Uganda’s Bugiri District reported a polio case.

Known as a contagious viral disease that can lead to death, polio shows no symptoms in 95 per cent of those infected, thus the alarm by health authorities in the two countries.

An ambitious plan to treat diarrhoea among children less than five years was launched with parents administering early home treatment.

The guidelines are expected to reduce by half deaths due to diarrhoea in this age group by 2013. the health sector hosted a high profile politician whose condition was on the lips of most Kenyans before he gave details.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga was taken ill and his condition was widely discussed before he ended speculation with a detailed account.

Mr Odinga, who instructed his staff and doctors to provide public and regular updates, recounted how his condition was initially diagnosed to be malaria before other tests confirmed he was suffering from pressure on the brain, a condition known as chronic subdural haematoma.

September this year saw a continental call lodged by health specialists to find a lasting solution to the surge in diabetes cases in Africa.

Kenya is no exception, with fears that lifestyle diseases like heart failure and diabetes could overwhelm the health system if not tackled early.

In April Public Health minister Beth Mugo raised the alarm that lifestyle diseases could account for higher death rates than malaria, TB and Aids combined.

She launched a national diabetes strategy to reduce the cost of managing the disease and appealed to healthcare providers to reduce the cost of treatment.

Health experts further raised the alarm that city children were eating themselves to death. Poor diet, smoking, alcohol and unsafe sex were identified as leading vices.

And as Kenya joined the rest in marking World Aids Day, the government was challenged to employ a more aggressive approach to reach high risk infection groups.

National Aids/STI Control Programme head Nicholas Muraguri said his organisation was identifying risk groups and rolling out prevention programmes.

The year 2010 also exposed a syndicate trafficking in human body parts after two mortuary attendants were arrested with male genitals suspected to have been chopped off a body at the mortuary.

Brews suspected to be laced with methanol killed more than 40 Kenyans in separate incidents in Kibera and Shauri Moyo in 2010.

Reports also indicate that the pneumonia vaccine could soon cost as little as Sh12, a massive drop from Sh4,000 today, if studies being carried out in Kilifi and Thika in Kenya, as well as in the Gambia, prove successful.

Pneumonia is a major cause of death worldwide, especially among children, with around 16,400 Kenyans dying each year from the disease.

As Kenya welcomes 2011, the government may need to be more aggressive in its health programmes if it intends to meet the four-year-timeline of the MDG goals.

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