[net.kids] whooping cough

45223wc@mtuxo.UUCP (w.cambre) (02/13/86)

>Because more people are not vaccinating their kids whooping cough is on the 
>rise in many states.
>
>Avinash Marathe
>{ihnp4,allegra,decwrl}!amd!ubvax!avinash

Lets not make statements that sound like FACTS when they are not.
It may be a fact that whooping cough is on the rise in some states,
I do not know.  However it certainly is not a fact that it is caused
by any one particular thing.  That is an opinion.  So lets all make
sure we preface opinions with something like:

Many doctors believe that the cause of whooping cough being on the rise
in some states is that more people are not vaccinating their kids.

 - Bill Cambre

jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla) (02/14/86)

	I'm 28 now, so vaccines have changed alot since I got mine but
when I was a kid I had very unpleasant reactions to my DPT boosters -
fever, aches, etc for about 3 days every time. So the last time around
my folks and the doctor thought it would be ok to skip the Pertissus
part and just shoot me up for tetanus. Consequently, when I was 12, I got
whooping cough. I was incredibly sick for a couple of weeks, struggling
for breathe and "whooping" constantly. The night that I couldn't get my
breath at all and went blue was probably the most frightening experience
my parents and I ever shared. I really thought I was going to die (they
did too). It was like drowning with no water. I did finally recover but
we never figured out where on earth I was exposed to it in the first place.
On the basis of this experience, I would say, get your kids innoculated.
Catching the disease is so much worse (and probably absolutely terrifying
for very young children) than the prevention that it is worth the risk.

-- 
jcpatilla
..{seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!aplcen!osiris!jcp 

"Not faint canaries but ambrosia.."
(name the original source)