DANGEROUS new strains of whooping cough bacteria are evading
Australia's vaccine against the disease and entrenching a four-year
epidemic that could spread overseas, Sydney scientists have found in
research that raises questions about the national immunisation program.
Microbiologists from the University of NSW have found variants of the pertussis bacteria with a particular genetic signature have increased to 86 per cent of all samples taken from infected people after a continuing disease epidemic began in 2008.
Although the strains were present in Australia as early as 2000, they accounted for only 31 per cent of all samples collected between 2000 and 2007 – suggesting they have flourished alongside the current vaccine against the potentially fatal respiratory infection.
The strains have "swept across Australia during the epidemic period" according to Ruiting Lan, from the school of biotechnology and biomolecular sciences. More than 13,000 whooping cough cases were diagnosed in 2011 – an all-time high.
Higher than BEFORE vaccines began?
The Children's Hospital at Westmead treated 76 children for whooping cough in 2011, up from 47 the previous year. The Sydney Children's Hospital treated 34 children in 2011, up from 16 the previous year.
An acellular vaccine – introduced in Australia in 1997 after concerns about side-effects from the previous whole cell version – appeared to have promoted the spread of these variants, Dr Lan said, which overseas authorities had linked to "higher virulence on the basis of hospitalisation and case mortality data".
He warned that other countries using similar vaccines should be alert for shifts in genetic features detected in the whooping cough bug.
"The vaccine is still the best way to reduce transmission of the disease and reduce cases, but it appears to be less effective against the new strain and immunity wanes more rapidly. We need to look at changes to the vaccine itself or increase the number of boosters,” –The vaccine isn't working so we better give you more of what doesn't work. This sounds like the government logic on revenue raising cameras and booze buses. Is Dr. Lan worried about a funding cut?– said Dr Lan, whose analysis of cultured bacteria from 194 whooping cough patients was published last week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Peter McIntyre, the Director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, said he had begun a project with Associate Professor Lan to identify any links between disease severity and different strains in Australia. "It's the missing piece of the jigsaw," he said. "We need to collect clinical data to confirm or refute the idea that there's something different about the so-called mutant strains."
Whooping cough deaths were higher during the 1990s, when immunisation rates were lower, than during the current epidemic, he said.
"The vaccine may not be as good as we'd like but it does seem to be preventing the most extreme cases," said Professor McIntyre, who suggested the reintroduction of a pertussis booster jab at 18 months old might help check the disease's spread.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing said officially recorded cases of whooping cough had increased sevenfold since 2007, saying "suboptimal vaccine coverage" was among possible reasons, along with better detection. Dr Lan's work and other research linking particular strains with the continuing epidemic was "constantly under consideration and review", she said.
"Optimising the schedule of boosters of existing vaccine ... is likely to be important at this time," said the spokeswoman.
She said the department's immunisation advisers were reviewing the vaccine schedule to determine whether new jabs should be recommended for babies, who are most at risk from the infection.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/whooping-cough-beats-vaccine-20120320-1vibp.html#ixzz2cIbI7oZg
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Microbiologists from the University of NSW have found variants of the pertussis bacteria with a particular genetic signature have increased to 86 per cent of all samples taken from infected people after a continuing disease epidemic began in 2008.
Although the strains were present in Australia as early as 2000, they accounted for only 31 per cent of all samples collected between 2000 and 2007 – suggesting they have flourished alongside the current vaccine against the potentially fatal respiratory infection.
The strains have "swept across Australia during the epidemic period" according to Ruiting Lan, from the school of biotechnology and biomolecular sciences. More than 13,000 whooping cough cases were diagnosed in 2011 – an all-time high.
Higher than BEFORE vaccines began?
The Children's Hospital at Westmead treated 76 children for whooping cough in 2011, up from 47 the previous year. The Sydney Children's Hospital treated 34 children in 2011, up from 16 the previous year.
An acellular vaccine – introduced in Australia in 1997 after concerns about side-effects from the previous whole cell version – appeared to have promoted the spread of these variants, Dr Lan said, which overseas authorities had linked to "higher virulence on the basis of hospitalisation and case mortality data".
He warned that other countries using similar vaccines should be alert for shifts in genetic features detected in the whooping cough bug.
"The vaccine is still the best way to reduce transmission of the disease and reduce cases, but it appears to be less effective against the new strain and immunity wanes more rapidly. We need to look at changes to the vaccine itself or increase the number of boosters,” –The vaccine isn't working so we better give you more of what doesn't work. This sounds like the government logic on revenue raising cameras and booze buses. Is Dr. Lan worried about a funding cut?– said Dr Lan, whose analysis of cultured bacteria from 194 whooping cough patients was published last week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Peter McIntyre, the Director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, said he had begun a project with Associate Professor Lan to identify any links between disease severity and different strains in Australia. "It's the missing piece of the jigsaw," he said. "We need to collect clinical data to confirm or refute the idea that there's something different about the so-called mutant strains."
Whooping cough deaths were higher during the 1990s, when immunisation rates were lower, than during the current epidemic, he said.
"The vaccine may not be as good as we'd like but it does seem to be preventing the most extreme cases," said Professor McIntyre, who suggested the reintroduction of a pertussis booster jab at 18 months old might help check the disease's spread.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing said officially recorded cases of whooping cough had increased sevenfold since 2007, saying "suboptimal vaccine coverage" was among possible reasons, along with better detection. Dr Lan's work and other research linking particular strains with the continuing epidemic was "constantly under consideration and review", she said.
"Optimising the schedule of boosters of existing vaccine ... is likely to be important at this time," said the spokeswoman.
She said the department's immunisation advisers were reviewing the vaccine schedule to determine whether new jabs should be recommended for babies, who are most at risk from the infection.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/whooping-cough-beats-vaccine-20120320-1vibp.html#ixzz2cIbI7oZg
ETHICAL DONATORS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS REQUIRED, TO FILL THIS SPACE WITH YOUR POLITICAL SLOGANS, ADVERTISING OFFERS, WEBSITE DETAILS, CHARITY REQUESTS, LECTURE OPPORTUNITIES, EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS, SPIRITUAL AND/OR HEALTH ENLIGHTENMENT COURSES.
AS AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THE GLOBAL INDEPENDENT MEDIA COMMUNITY MIKIVERSE HEALTH HONOURABLY REQUESTS YOUR HELP TO KEEP YOUR NEWS,DIVERSE, AND FREE OF CORPORATE, GOVERNMENT SPIN AND CONTROL. FOR MORE INFO ON HOW YOU MAY ASSIST,
PLEASE CONTACT: themikiverse@gmail.com
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