Keuchhusten

[Ulrich]

Von einem Freund von mir...

This fall I worked at the Prarie Island Nuclear Gen Plant near Red Wing, Minnesota. People come from all over the country to work at these plants when they shut down.

In mid-September I developed a terrible hacking cough. It was so bad it I would cough up flecks of blood and my head felt like it would explode. I could hardly catch my breath.

I went to the clinic in town and was mis- diagnosed as having chemical or allergen pneumonia. I was given a RX for amoxicillan and a steroid to help me breath.

By the end of the month I was no better so as soon as I got home the first week in October I went to my doctor. He did another x-ray, found I had fluid in both lungs. He sent me off with an RX for Levaquinn and another round of steroids. Another mis-diagnosis.

Last Friday I was still no better so off to the doctor again. The x-ray this time showed no fluid but the cough was was worse than ever. Now the doctor did a throat swab for culture and it turns out that I have pertussis, or what they used to call whooping cough.

This sounded like something from the dark ages. Wasn't whooping cough irradicated like small pox? I knew I had been vaccinated as a child and teen. How could I get this?

So having a lot of spare time while I am resting and drinking plenty of fluids, I did a lot of web research.

Now we are going to get to the reason I am posting this.

Pertussis vaccines are only good for 3-5 years. Pertussis is on the rise again. 25,000 cases reported in 2004. Many, many babies have died from it each year. A very high mortality rate.

Babies cannot be innoculated at birth, Where do they get it from? Why, of course, they get it from the adults around them.

So for the sake of your kids, your grand kids, and the little ones you encounter in your day to day lives, and yourselves, get the vaccine.

 

[mogli]

Hatte ich auch. Da war ich 18, meine Schwester 10 Jahre älter, mein Neffe 6. Haben es alle 3 gehabt, wahrscheinlich ist es daher auch recht früh aufgefallen. Weil wir alle 3 nen hartnäckigen, sehr trockenen Husten hatten bei dem einem fast der Kopf geplatzt ist, haben alle in Dtl. gewohnt zu der Zeit und wissen bis heute nicht woher es kam. Wir hatten alle 3 die Impfung, aber Keuchhusten tritt wohl wieder vermehrt auf...wir haben dann Inhalationen machen müssen um die Lungenkapazität wieder voll herzustellen.

 

[kruemelmaus85]

Ja, die Pertussis-Impfung (Keuchhusten) wird jetzt auch bei Erwachsenen wieder empfohlen und mitgeimpft. Kann man zusammen mit Tetanus und Diphterie in ner 3-fach Imfpung bekommen. Meine steht auch bald wieder an.

 

[kristin711]

Ich habe mich auch erst letztes Jahr dagegen impfen lassen. Hatte Keuchhusten glaub ich aber auch als Kind.