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Latest studies have suggested that giving booster vaccination to the parents and other household members of new-born babies can help protect infants against the fatal form of whooping cough, to quite an extent. As per British Medical Journal, Pediatricians at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, in Edinburgh, cited the example of two fatal cases of invasive pertussis in young infants who were not vaccinated. Using the cases, they explained how infectious adults in a family can become one of the major sources of infection for un-immunized infants.
First of the two cases involved a one-month old boy, who was suffering from cough, runny nose and difficulty feeding for five days. Enquiries revealed that the parents as well as the elder sibling of the child had complaints of persistent coughing with vomiting, since the last two weeks. While the elder sibling was fully vaccinated and the mother had received a pertussis booster in 1986, there was no specific record of the parents' childhood vaccination. The child died within 24 hours, even after receiving maximum therapy.
The second case involved a six-week old girl, who was suffering from cough and breathlessness for sometime. When the family was investigated, it was found out that the mother had a persistent cough for more than two weeks. While the mother had been given all immunizations in childhood, including pertussis, the record of father's pertussis immunization was missing. In this case also, maximum therapy was provided and still, the child died within 30 hours. Doctors believe that majority of infants catch whooping cough from affected family members, with parents being responsible for more than half the cases.
