PedSPAM December 2003
Welcome to the PedSPAM archive for December. Here are the month's daily SPAMlets from my update reading that you might have missed:
In the News
Monday, December 15: Whooping cough (pertussis) incidence in the United States is up 50% from comparable periods 10 years ago. The disease is making inroads among infants who have not completed their primary series of shots at 2, 4, and 6 months. Full immunity requires all three doses of the vaccine.
Journal of the American Medical Association 2003;290:2968-2975.
This is disturbing news. The danger to babies is primarily exposure to adolescents and adults who have persistent cough. Pertussis immunity wears off by age 10; after that, any older person can infect a vulnerable infant.
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