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Original poster

Whooping cough - would you?

44 replies

rainuntilseptember · 24/07/2012 22:33

Hoping for some advice. I'm due to travel in a week to visit family, along with my new baby who will be just under 3 months then. I've just heard that my cousin (poor lad) has whooping cough. Everyone I was planning to stay with or visit will have been exposed to this, though obviously may not have caught it. Should I cancel? I've been really looking forward to the trip but lo is top priority obviously.
TIA

OP posts:
thunksheadontable · 24/07/2012 22:38

Absolutely categorically under any circumstances, no.

Unless someone could tell me that the vaccines your baby will have had will give adequate protection.

Original poster
rainuntilseptember · 24/07/2012 22:45

He's only had the first one (out of 3) due to his age.

OP posts:
dontcallmehon · 24/07/2012 22:46

No, definitely not. I had whooping cough aged 3 and it is fairly nasty.

VivaLeBeaver · 24/07/2012 22:46

Ring your GP tomorrow and ask. I had whooping cough as a child and its not nice at all.

Dollydowser · 24/07/2012 22:56

I would cancel. It is highly contagious, it's just not worth the risk.

thunksheadontable · 24/07/2012 23:01

I think there is a pretty high risk of fatality in babies who haven't been vaccinated.

Original poster
rainuntilseptember · 24/07/2012 23:04

Yes it's a nasty illness. I won't have to have any contact with the person with the confirmed case, it's the other family members that I'm wondering about - I don't know much about incubation periods etc.
Not looking good is it?

OP posts:
Springforward · 24/07/2012 23:06

I had whooping cough aged 3ish, still remember how nasty it was. I'd call the GP for advice on jabs to date, but also on whether it's plausible to contract it from someone who was exposed but is currently asymptomatic - it may not be?

Springforward · 24/07/2012 23:09

Ooh hold on, those exposed may already be immune, so could they transmit anyway? Definitely worth checking out before changing plans IMO.

Original poster
rainuntilseptember · 24/07/2012 23:29

Thanks again. I've read tonight that the vaccine doesn't give life-long immunity, so I think the adults could catch it. Doubt my parents would've ever been vaccinated due to their age.

OP posts:
KurriKurri · 24/07/2012 23:41

No - please don't go. I had whooping cough as a four year old and was pretty ill with it (I had also had half of the vaccination) - it left permanent lung scars.

A neighbour of mine lost her young baby to whooping cough Sad - it is very serious for babies.

I'm 52 by the way - if that's any help in judging whether your parents will have been vaccinated (my sister is 60 - also vaccinated)

CaseyShraeger · 24/07/2012 23:45

It's not that high a fatality risk in unvaccinated babies (about 1 in 500 - I looked it up when DS had it as a newborn) but it is nasty, and having been vaccinated as a child doesn't necessarily protect you as an adult (as I discovered when I caught it and passed it to DS).

IIRC the incubation period is around a week, and then it presents as a regular cough for about a week after that. And I think after three weeks you're no longer infectious. So part of the question for me would be how long your cousin has had whooping cough. It's bloody difficult to get a diagnosis, so ir may be that he's actually had it for a while and isn't infectious any more (although even then you'd have to find out whether anyone else was displaying cough/cold symptoms). Older relatives who contracted "wild" whooping cough as children rather than being vaccinated (your parents are likely to fall into this category) are more likely to be safe.

Hervana · 24/07/2012 23:46

I've just got over whooping cough and it was awful absolutely awful, the most ill I've ever been.

My two didn't catch it (2&5) but they are fully up to date with vaccines

Nobody else I know has caught it, which is odd as I read everywhere that it is highly contagious. The only other person I know who has it is the person I caught it from!

Having said all this I absolutely would not travel, knowing what I know now and having just had it (been about 5/6 weeks now and still not gone, was bed bound for a couple of weeks and unable to breath several times)

sorry :(

Hervana · 24/07/2012 23:46

ps unsure if I was vaccinated - suspect I was - of course many years ago, am 35 now!

Hervana · 24/07/2012 23:49

and what casey said about the incubation period etc is right given what I have read

CaseyShraeger · 24/07/2012 23:55

My experience was similar, Hervana - DH had "wild" whooping cough as a child and didn't succumb even with me and DS coughing all over him for weeks.

saintlyjimjams · 24/07/2012 23:58

A lot of the whooping cough around at the moment is a different strain than the one the vaccine protects against (google what's been going on n the states and Australia). So I wouldn't rely in vaccination status.

Ds2 was exposed at 3 months (accidentally) and didn't catch it. I wouldn't knowingly expose a child that young though.

Hervana · 25/07/2012 00:05

I just can't imagine how awful that must have been for you casey, a newborn with whooping cough, it must have been terrifying. hope all is well now? Was it easy to get it diagnosed?

I think the hardest part for me was that nobody really believed me? Because they haven't heard of it for a while. Visited drs three times and they just said it was a virus - couldn't be a chest infection either as no wheezing etc

Thankfully after I posted my symptoms (worrying that it was all sorts) another MNer posted a link here and I had only read about half way through and knew straightaway that's what it was. After this I went back to drs and she just kind of nodded her head - what she wrote on her notes I don't know - and said well there's nothing I can do now.

goodness I'm so sorry OP I've seriously highjacked your thread!

Original poster
rainuntilseptember · 25/07/2012 00:31

Hervana it's all really useful for me to hear.

OP posts:
fireice · 25/07/2012 05:29

Whooping cough is horrible. One of my earliest memories is of how horribly ill I felt with it. I wasn't vaccinated because there was a scare about the vaccine when I should have had it. I wouldn't knowingly expose a newborn to it.
Of course in your case it is slightly more indirect though.

Hervana · 25/07/2012 08:56

That's interesting saintly. I had a quick google and found the Aus water polo team have caught it. Interestingly the person I caught it from is Aus!

Here is the useful link that the other MNer posted previously, sorry forgot to post it

Www.whoopingcough.net

Original poster
rainuntilseptember · 25/07/2012 10:04

Well today's news is that my DM now thinks she has it (going to doctor to confirm). But she has been told after 5 days of antibiotics she won't be contagious. What if they're wrong? Everything in me is telling me to keep my baby away, but possibly being over-anxious and precious if there's no risk after a week Confused

OP posts:
numbertaker · 25/07/2012 10:09

In the past year or so the un-vaccinated have been blamed, however there was a piece in the washington post last week I think that said that because the rate of W/C was so high, and the level of vaccine coverage was high enough then the un-vaccinated could not be blamed.

Australia has stopped the cocooning vaccines, i.e vaccinating everyone who will come into contact with a newborn/infant, because they realised it was just not working and a waste of money.

What we have I think is different strain, this strain has been brought on by the bacteria mutating to survive the vaccine.

numbertaker · 25/07/2012 10:10

Oh, NO don't go. I also had W/C despite being vaccinated.

saintlyjimjams · 25/07/2012 10:47

Rain - ds2 (who was exposed but didn't catch it as a baby) had w/c as a two year old. He was fine although it went on for ever. I'm fairly relaxed by today's standards about childhood diseases, but I really really wouldn't knowingly expose a 3 month old. You are not being precious to stay away.

It's true that with antib's there's meant to be no risk of infection after 5 days, and I'd probably risk it with a child over 1 and no health issues, but not with a 3 month old.