By Heidi Stevenson
The lesson of these outbreaks is that the modern medical paradigm is deeply flawed. Now it’s caught with its knickers down and no decent explanation, since those it claims to have protected are victims.
Incidents of whooping cough have been growing more and more common since the mid-nineties, according to a report in the American Journal of Nursing(1) Those most likely to be infected are infants. However, there has been an increasing trend to the disease in adolescents and adults.
Further complicating the picture is that there are two kinds of bacteria that cause whooping cough: Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis. Only one, B. pertussis has an associated vaccine. Is vaccination for B. pertussis causing these whooping cough outbreaks by providing a breeding ground for its cousin, B. parapertussis?
The Two Diseases
The two whooping cough diseases, which we’ll simplify to pertussis and parapertussis, are nearly indistinguishable in terms of symptoms. Pertussis is generally considered the more severe disease. The cough lasts longer and tends to be more severe. It generally starts with catarrhal symptoms, much like a cold with stuffy nose or congestion. This last from a week to ten days. Then, the cough starts. It tends to be severe with a whooping sound on the intake of breath. This can last from a few days to several weeks. Finally, a period of recuperation that may be brief or last for weeks or even months, depending upon the patient’s strength.
Parapertussis is much the same. Though it’s generally considered to be milder and briefer, pertussis is also noted to often be mild, and can even occur without obvious symptoms. These mild cases may be quite common. It’s believed that many diagnosed cases may be the result of exposure to people with silent pertussis. It is, in fact, impossible for any clinician to distinguish between the two diseases without testing. Even with testing, they are not easy to distinguish because the pertussis bacterium can be diagnosed for only a relatively short period during the disease and is difficult to isolate. Tests result in a large number of false positives and false negatives.
Obviously, there is much confusion about which disease people have.
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