Duke Medicine: Can you be putting children at risk of whooping cough?

The recent death of a two-month-old Forsyth County infant from whooping cough has put the illness back in the headlines in North Carolina.

Vaccinations against the disease are recommended at two months, four months, six months and 15 to 18 months and at 4- to 6-years-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children who are 11- or 12-years-old should get a booster shot. And doctors recommend that adults who are in regular contact with children should get vaccinated.

A recent study from Duke researchers showed that gynecologists offering the shots to women who come in for their annual checkups can increase vaccination rates in both pregnant and non-pregnant patients.

Said Geeta Swamy, MD, director of obstetrics clinical research at Duke: "Reaching women who had not yet received the (adult pertussis) vaccine is important because rates of pertussis have been rising for the last five years. Pertussis isn’t as serious in adolescents and adults, but it is life-threatening to infants under a year old who haven’t been fully immunized. In fact, the CDC reports that mothers are the primary source of infection in 32 percent of infant pertussis cases"