Takeaway from pertussis outbreak in the county

How much disease is really out there?

Six cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, have been investigated in Gunnison County, with those affected ranging in age from 14 to 81. Carol Worrall, director of Gunnison County Board of Health, reported to the county commissioners on Tuesday, March 17 that some of the people affected have never been vaccinated, a few have had some vaccinations and one adult had a vaccination less than two years ago.
Worrall said the takeaway is that with the vaccination a person gets good coverage immediately, but it probably doesn’t last more than one year. “Years ago, the vaccination caused a lot of side effects. The new, different form of the vaccination doesn’t come with those side effects but it also does not last as long,” she said.

Worrall added that as we get older our immune response becomes increasingly sub-par. “With pertussis, if elders got it, they might not even go to the doctor. They would just continue coughing and be miserable for a long time,” she said. “You could cough and vomit and be disgusted for three months, and you wouldn’t even know you had pertussis. You could also easily transfer it to a child. You can’t just give the sick person antibiotics. You need to address the entire household.”
There is a tendency to not test for pertussis since it can resemble a bad cold, so there is no way to know how much disease is really out there. If your cough lingers, worsens or is uncomfortable and distracting enough to make you think twice, do it—think twice and get tested for whooping cough if you think you have any signs of the illness.