When you look at the high degree of school absenteeism, a cough that lasts for 40 days and staying awake for three to four weeks, it's a disease well worth preventing. Pertussis in adults has negligible mortality but is responsible for about one-quarter of cases of chronic cough syndrome in young adults. It is estimated that pertussis causes about 15 per cent of cough illnesses in adolescents and adults, according to Health Canada. Adults and adolescents whose last booster shot was more than ten years ago are no longer protected by the vaccine and may therefore be susceptible to pertussis infection. Largely unrecognized as having pertussis, they can unknowingly transmit the disease to infants.
Infants represent the group at greatest risk for severe illness, disease complications and death.
According to the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control at Health Canada, pertussis is among the top diseases preventable by routine vaccination, with 1,687 cases being reported in the first five months of this year. More than 4,500 cases were reported from January to October of 1999. Canada and Germany have approved a formulation of acellular pertussis vaccine for use in adolescents and adults. Aventis Pasteur is Canada's premier vaccine company, manufacturing or distributing vaccines and immunotherapeutic products which protect against 17 infectious diseases and common illnesses, including polio, tetanus, flu, pneumonia and meningitis. Any question regarding a medical diagnosis, treatment, referral, drug availability or pricing should be directed to either a licensed physician or to the product's manufacturer.