May 2001

Hi everyone,

I am new to the group.  As I was perusing the letters, I felt compelled to
respond to this one.

All three of my non "pertussis" immunized children came down with whooping
cough this winter.  Apparently, they got it from fully immunized me.
Simultaneously, a very contagious upper respiratory infection which
consisted of a lengthy cough and other symptoms was spreading around my community.

When I took my first child to an MD, without him even hearing her cough, he
demanded that she be tested for pertussis.  He threatened to report me to
the State if I refused the test for her.  The test came back positive and we
then had to jump through all kinds of hoops with the Health Officer and the
school.  An article even appeared in the local newspaper (thankfully, it
didn't mention her name).

What I ended up discovering is that doctors will only suspect pertussis if
the child has not been immunized.  At the same time, I came upon the article
mentioned and I realized that there was a pertussis epidemic in my town and
nobody was descerning this becauses all of these people had been immunized.
So, rather than unimmunized kids being any kind of a threat to the immunized
population, they are the "canary in the coalmine" that should tip off the
health department of an epidemic.

I could elaborate but I must get back to work

Name withheld upon request