Whooping Cough Is On The Rise And Fingers Are Pointed At Anti-Vaxxers

whooping coughIn another new fresh stirring of the vaccination pot, New York health officials have determined a reported “sharp spike” in whooping cough cases. And they’re furrowing their eyebrows at you, anti-vaxxers.

Reuters reports that in comparison to last year, whooping cough, or pertussis, is up 44% according to the CDC. That makes New York just one of more than 10 states to exhibit more than a “three-fold increase” in whooping cough cases since 2011. Whooping cough apparently has a tendency to peak every three to five years, which Peter Constantakes, a spokesperson for the New York City health department, describes as “cyclical” and still perplexing to he and his colleagues. But that along with the decline in vaccinations have health experts putting two and two together:

Other factors include families who choose not to vaccinate their children and the fact that many teens and adults who have not been immunized catch the cough but ignore it and pass it on.

Even if parents are vaccinating their kids, recent findings that Oregon parents are developing their own “alternative” vaccine schedules make this rise in whooping cough even more concerning. Between parents choosing not to vaccinate their kids at all to others picking and choosing immunizations, the nation is definitely feeling the anti-vaccination movement.

(photo: Serhiy Kobyakov/ Shutterstock)

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