Most people are vaccinated against pertussis as kids. But here’s a surprise: It’s come roaring back since an all-time low in the 1970s, largely due to waning immunity in adults who received shots in early childhood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that all adults get a pertussis booster shot to strengthen their immunity, yet only 2 percent of adults have had their shots updated. Experts say that’s just one of several vaccines you may need now. Here’s the scoop.
Whooping cough
Vaccine: Tdap
The good news: If you get your regular tetanus-diptheria (Td) booster every 10 years, you won’t need an extra jab for pertussis. Vaccine makers have added a pertussis component to that booster, so next time you’re due for your Td booster request the Tdap. If you’ve lost track of your vaccines, ask your doc to contact your previous physicians. And there’s no harm in getting the Tdap as long as two years have passed since your last Td booster. Better too soon than too late when a pertussis outbreak has hit your community.
Simpson was too late: She had passed the infection to her mother and her baby, too, landing the newborn in the hospital three weeks after he was born. That’s when they all were diagnosed and received the antibiotic erythromycin to keep the infection from spreading further, though they all continued coughing for months. If pertussis isn’t caught in the first few weeks, the infection may take three months to run its course. The greatest danger is to babies, who almost always catch it from unvaccinated adults. (The number of U.S. pertussis cases now ranks in the thousands each year, with deaths in the double digits, mostly due to related pneumonia.)
Simpson and her baby, along with her mother (and husband, too), eventually got the shot for future protection.
Chicken pox
Vaccine: Varivax
More than 90 percent of women in their childbearing years are immune to chicken pox because they had it as kids. The rest should be vaccinated before they try to get pregnant because catching the illness during pregnancy can lead to devastating birth defects. Once you get the vaccine (which was introduced in 1995), the CDC says you should delay trying to conceive for at least one month, due to the small risk that the fetus can get the virus from the vaccine. Chicken pox complications are much more frequent and severe in adults than children and can include life-threatening pneumonia and encephalitis (brain inflammation). And people who’ve had it are also at risk for shingles. Most insurers cover the chicken pox vaccine for adults.
