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 “Knowing where they’re getting their disease from is important so we
can target our approach accordingly,” said lead author Tami Skoff,
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
Whooping cough, which gets its name from the sound patients make
while gasping for air, can be especially dangerous – and sometimes
deadly – for newborns, according to the CDC.
The disease is more formally known as pertussis.
In the past, mothers were thought to be the most common sources of
the infection for infants.
For the new study, the researchers used data collected between 2006
and 2013 from 1,306 infants in seven states. About a quarter were
younger than two months.
By asking who else had whooping cough roughly one to three weeks
before the infant's cough began, the researchers were able to figure
out the source of the infection in 44 percent of the infants.
When the source of infection could be identified, it was an
immediate family member two thirds of the time. Siblings were the
source of infection in 36 percent of cases, while mothers were the
source in 21 percent and fathers in 10 percent of cases.
Mothers were the main source of infection for infants until about
2008, according the researchers. Then, the main source became
brothers and sisters.
The researchers write in Pediatrics that the change isn't
surprising, because whooping cough is becoming common in older
children. Partly, that's because protection from the newer versions
of the whooping cough vaccine becomes weaker over several years.
So, "it makes sense that we’re seeing this transition from mothers
to siblings as the source of infection," Skoff told Reuters Health.
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She also said the research suggests "cocooning," which is when
people around the infant are vaccinated, is likely not effective -
especially since her team could find a source of infection less than
half the time.
Instead, she said, women should receive the whooping cough vaccine
during each pregnancy to pass antibodies to the fetus, and those
antibodies can protect the child until he or she is old enough to be
vaccinated.
"You’re providing direct protection to the mom and direct protection
to the infant," Skoff said.
"There are some data out of the UK showing that vaccination during
pregnancy is effective," she said. "The early data is very
reassuring and promising, which is why we’re pushing this strategy."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1g5CTzV Pediatrics, online September 7, 2015.
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