Health | New whooping cough vaccine program set up

A new whooping cough vaccine and immunization program was recently introduced by the government with the aim of fighting the significant increase in the number of cases of the disease worldwide, followed also by a local increase registered during the first half of 2018, the Health Bureau (SSM) informed in a statement.

According to the same statement, in order to protect the health of babies, last year the SSM started to make changes to the vaccination program, adding vaccinations for pregnant women and older children.

In addition, the program also replaces the old vaccine used in the territory in the last few years which had a short-term effect and was likely to cause side effects.
The whooping cough is caused by the bordetella pertussis bacteria and is transmitted directly via droplets of saliva from infected patients.

After contracting the infection, the patient has symptoms such as spasmodic coughing, wheezing and vomiting. If the infected patient is not treated promptly, the disease may last up to three months carrying risks of causing complications such as pneumonia and encephalopathy which could potentially lead to death.

Vaccination is the most effective preventive measure against whooping cough with an effective rate of 80 to 90 percent when administered with three doses of the pertussis vaccine. The resistance increases after the inoculation with the fourth dosage usually at the age of 18 months.

Over the past 30 years, cases of whooping cough have become rare but new outbreaks of the disease are appearing due to cases of spontaneous infections as well as a gradual reduction of antibodies in pregnant women and other adults.  RM