Can immunised kids still get whooping cough

[danniellabella]

That basically sums up my question.

DD is 20 months old so she's had all her infant/toddler vaccinations and not due for any more until she's 4 years old.

Is it still possible for a child who has been immunised against it to get whooping cough?

[Lulu]

Yep. Same with any of the shots. Is she feeling ill?

[bjrose]

As far as I know, yes, but the chances are smaller.
Are you, DH & her DC carer immunised? This lessens the chances again.

[danniellabella]

DH & I aren't immunised. I don't know if her carer is.
I only ask because she's started coughing a bit at night, but I don't know if it's anything to be worried about or if her asthma is playing up so I'm trying to remember to give her her puffer.

[bjrose]

Didn't even know she had asthma. Clever aren't I!
Does she have a preventative puffer? Jaz was on Seretide at 2.

[Trillian]

Schmickers said a while ago when the last outbreak happened that where he lives they have the highest rate of vaccination, but they also had the highest number of whooping cough cases in children, so you do the math. Vaccination isn't a 100% guarantee that your child is protected. But you would know if it were that. It sounds more like it's just her asthma playing up because being spring there is a lot of pollen and dust around atm.

[Schmickers]

The whooping cough vaccine is about 90% effective at best, so 1 in 10 children who are fully immunised are still able to contract the disease. It usually starts with cough and cold type symptoms, which progresses to the classic coughing paroxysms. Immunised children sometimes develop milder symptoms, and babies might not have the "whoop" at the end of the cough, but they will often have a post-coughing vomit.

[mrscricket]

Yes they can! My DS has has all his immunisations and recently also had whooping cough. It was awful. He was sick for about 6 weeks all up. I took him to the drs and they initally though he has asthma, then 2 days later I got a call from my doctor, saying "Please bring him back. I've been thinking about him and thought I should test him for whooping cough as there has been alot of reported cases in this area". Sure enough that's what he had. He was put onto medication which initally cleared it up, but then it came back.
The doctor said he would have a milder form of it but I would really hate to see a child that was serverly sick with it - it was horrible .

[danniellabella]

Thanks for the responses. I don't think I hear a whoop type of sound when she coughs so I think it must be allergies agrovating asthma.

Skye: She hasn't officially been diagnosed with asthma, but is showing all the symptoms (then again, the doctor said that majority of children in Australia, particularlly SA have symptoms of asthma due to the climate). She is on preventative medication which helps with the wheezing

[Trillian]

then it's possibly not an asthma issue but an allergy one? Do you think she could get hayfever? I know when I get really wheezy with hayfever I feel like coughing all the time like I need to clear my throat and need ventolin to help open my throat again.

[Lisa]

Yes they can.

I had whooping cough when I was pregnant with Anelise, and my children had it also and they're all fully immunised.
The thing that most people don't realise is that the 'whoop' isn't the sound of the cough... it is a normalish sounding cough but the whoop happens at the end when you're trying to get your breath back (if that makes sense), I always expected that it would be a whoopy sounding cough, but it is the sound at the end... it is an awful thing to get and I like to think that my kids didn't get it as severely as I did as their immunisations are up to date whereas I needed a booster.

Fingers crossed your DD doesn't have it

[Erynna]

Yes!
My sister was vaccinated and got a really bad case of it, almost killed her as no one believe it was whooping cough and did not treat her for ages.

[danniellabella]

Forgot about this. I certainly don't think it's whooping cough. When she starts coughing I just give her the ventolin and she's fine.