The History of Pertussis, aka, Whooping Cough

Pertussis, aka, Whooping Cough, is a respiratory-tract infection that causes a paroxysmal cough. In layman's terms, it is a cough that does not want to let go, causing a gasping or whooping sound, (hence the name Whooping Cough), when you try to inhale.

Coughing fits can be so severe as to cause vomiting and a feeling of inability to breathe. The history of pertussis shows a rapid declined after release of the DPT vaccine but since the 1980's it has been increasing in a cyclic rate with peaks every 3-4 years. The human body does not develop an immunity either from the vaccine or having had pertussis, you can still get the disease. We personally do not vaccinate our children and our pediatrician not only supported us in this decision, but she also stated that her boy was vaccinated and still caught pertussis anyway. Older children typically have milder cases of Pertussis, but it is most dangerous to infants under 1 year of age with the highest fatality rate in the age group of less than 6 months. Adults rarely get the disease.

Vaccines do not provide immunity nor does getting Pertussis provide immunity. Because of the chemicals as well as the Pertussis ingredients themselves, you should understand and know how to determine if your child is at risk of Neurological or other damage due to the vaccine. The Immunization Practices Advisory Committee recommends that children who have a history of convulsions should not receive the pertussis vaccine due to a seven times increase in risk of suffering Neurological damage due to the vaccine.

In the history of pertussis, in 1934 there were 265,000 cases in the U.S. with nearly 8,000 deaths. Today there are approximately 2,000 to 10,000 cases reported to the CDC but they believe the actual numbers may be 40,000 to 100,000 due to a lack of incident reporting, especially since teenagers may have it and only show symptoms of a bad cold or flu. Today the percentage of death from Pertussis is much lower due to medical treatment advances such as breathing tubes, intravenous hydration and others. In my honest opinion, treatment of the diseases is a better alternative because it allows strengthening of the immune system without the introduction of toxic and carcinogeous ingredients. A 1985 British report placed the risk of death for infants under 1 year from pertussis at 1 in 69,000, which is much lower than the incidence of serious reactions to the vaccine, (see next paragraph)

Vaccine reactions are difficult to pinpoint since not all reactions get reported, but one study showed that 1 in 875 DPT vaccines resulted in convulsions or a shock or collapse occurred. It is not known how many of these actually result in permanent brain damage. It may never be known how many cases of cancer later in life are caused by carcinogens like Formaldehyde in vaccines, but many references show that 100 years ago cancer was rare, it is now a very prevalent killer of people.

The NVIC has a great article on vaccine reactions as well as a list of reasons why a child should NOT be vaccinated with the DPT or DTaP shots, including a long list of precautionary conditions in which you may want to consider not giving the vaccine. They also say children age 7 and up should not receive the "P" vaccine.

Vaccines are rapidly becoming a controversial issue and evidence shows they can in reality be dangerous. Unfortunately most doctors do not do a proper screening of the patient and family history for neurological disorders, allergies, and other conditions that can increase the risk of permanent damage to an adult or your child, instead they are handed out like candy regardless of past, current, or ongoing conditions that might make the vaccine an issue. If they had and if they knew to screen, our autistic boy would never have been vaccinated due to the vaccine reactions in our previous children, and he would likely not have closed up into a world of autism which he did immediately following his MMR vaccine. In fact, none of our chldren would have been vaccinated due to a family history of Neulogical disorders and seizures as well as chemical and parmaceutical alleries. The warnings are out there, even buried in the CDC's website, but they are obscure and few doctors not to mention parents even have a clue that dangers exist.

While I am totally opposed to vaccines, despite the history of pertussis, because of the toxic ingredients in them. I am opposed to them because for decades, in spite of damage being done, the DPT was pushed as being safe however it has been replaced with the DTaP due to being safer and having fewer severe reactions than the DTP is in essence admission that they knew it was causing damage.

The fact that ingredients have changed because of some ingredients being linked to neurological and other damage in spite of years of defending these ingredients by the manufacturers and the replacement ingredients may be as harmful if not more so than the original ingredient. And I am opposed to vaccines because today it is reported that 1 in 150 children who receive vaccines are now autistic, (a much higher number than those killed or damaged by the original diseases), while some control groups who do not vaccinate do not suffer autism such as the Amish and the Home First organization in Chicago. However in fairness and balance in understanding the illness I have included resources from both sides to this disease.

For information and reference materials to these two groups, please refer to my article:
The Amish and Autism: Can Mercury in Vaccines Cause Autism?

The History of Pertussis Resources:

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/TOPIC1778.HTM

http://general-medicine.jwatch.org/cgi/content/citation/1989/1027/5

http://www.vaclib.org/basic/unvax.htm

http://www.909shot.com/Diseases/whooping.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046738.htm

http://www.immunizationinfo.org/vaccineinfo/vaccine_detail.cfv?id=22

Disclaimer: This article, the history of pertussis, is not intended to give medical advice. It is a call to educate yourself so that in making a decision where your child is concerned, you should take an active role in learning all you can from medical experts on both sides of the fence, then make an educated decision. we did not make an informed decision until one son got Leukemia and another developed Autism immediately after receiving his MMR vaccine. This has sent us on a quest to inform ourselves and others to seriously question what kind of toxic soups are being injected with the vaccines. Odds are if your child is injured by a vaccine, you have little or no recompense against the industry.