Not too long ago, whooping cough, a deadly early childhood
disease, was mostly licked. (We were even talking about wiping it off the face of the earth in
1975!) Just vaccinate your child 3 times before the age of 2 and
then twice more before they go to kindergarten and they should be protected,
right? If everyone does this then vulnerable, unimmunized newborns will also be
protected. Headlines like about people getting pertussis in places like
California, Wisconsin and Sweden, said otherwise.
While doctors deal with more frequent outbreaks, scientists have
task of figuring out what went wrong in all those vaccinated people. In their
study of how this illness is passed from person to person, Dr. Rohani at
University of Michigan and Dr. Drake at University of Georgia have shown
increase in whooping cough is likely the result of a few different things:
First, we know that the whooping cough vaccine is wearing off. (Yes, that’s right. Five shots may not be enough!) This
may be only part of the story. The effects of whooping cough on adults are
typically not severe. Consequently, adults, in whom the vaccine no longer works,
have been carrying it and giving it to each other. This means that we didn’t know about many of
the people that got sick and could potentially give it to others. On top of
this, the disease itself is changing!
The average person isn’t going to be able to do anything
about the evolution of disease, but we can be very careful to pay attention to
vaccines and our illnesses. If you have a sustained cough and are around sensitive
populations, see your doctor. Also,
make sure to get boosters as directed by your doctor. While medicine and
science get a lot of things right they can’t always predict or even keep track
of how things will turn out when introduced to the real world.
Oh, and the next time you complain about some toddler giving
you a runny nose, just remember that you might be the disease
farm yourself!
Contrary to popular belief not everything from Texas is big. Painfully aware of this, as she cranes her neck to look people in the eye, Radhika constantly strives to amend her lowly 4’ 11” stature by climbing things much bigger than she. While her departure from mother Texas is permanent, she does slip into a drawl 'nowanagen.'
Contrary to popular belief not everything from Texas is big. Painfully aware of this, as she cranes her neck to look people in the eye, Radhika constantly strives to amend her lowly 4’ 11” stature by climbing things much bigger than she. While her departure from mother Texas is permanent, she does slip into a drawl 'nowanagen.'
This is such an interesting topic, Radhika. I really like how you try to keep it chatty and conversational without "dumbing it down" too much. I think your post might be a bit easier for the reader to understand if you lay out your topic a bit more clearly in the first paragraph.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog, and written in a fun and informative manner. I'm sure a lot of people would wonder if this also applies to more common respiratory diseases (like colds or the flu), including a brief mention of this might be useful.
ReplyDeleteHey Radhika, nice blog, I like how it's short and punchy with a fun picture, an action item for readers in bold, and some presumably interesting links right there for people to click on - especially the first one.
ReplyDeleteHi Radhika, nice post! I think this a really interesting topic and one that will apply to a large audience. I think you did a great job getting your point across in a way that is not too technical but still explains the facts and emphasizes the importance of this topic. I also thought it was great how your last sentence related back to the title of your post! One question I was left with (and this is probably outside the scope of your blog) was whether or not this problem applies to other childhood vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
Ellen
Hi Radhika,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post and fun to read (especially with the funny pictures in the links). I think this is a very interesting and timely issue, especially with one of our own Emory researchers (Saad Omer in Global Health) finding that a lot of folks, particularly in the private school community, are not vaccinating their kids at all.
So just a challenge to you (and anyone else) to consider and respond to, especially in conjunction with Rebecca's post above -- what is our role in public health in informing people that some of our public health practices aren't working as effectively as they should be (but still better than none at all)? Do we risk people losing faith in the public health infrastructure or do we gain credibility by being forthcoming about where we need more work?
Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!
(Also -- where's your sassy bio? With all those fun pics, I bet it's a good one!)
Sassy bio added.
Delete( I put it on my profile... oops!)
Hello Ariela,
DeleteFrom a non-public health person, I believe that credibility can be gained by telling the truth about where work is needed. The general public needs to be educated, but they also have to do their own homework when it comes to making important decisions for their children. I don't think they should just blindly accept what the CDC and other medical authorities state as the truth. This is certainly my opinion.
Best,
Leah
Awesome post Radhika. I like how you made it quite relevant and accessible to a wide audience, especially at the end. I would have liked to see more links to vaccine studies or news articles at the end regarding this topic, but overall very well written.
ReplyDelete-David
Great post! It's very informative and explained clearly in languge that's not too technical. I thought the links to the images were amusing and helped keep it light. The links to other articles on the topic were informative, especially the link to the CDC fact sheet.
ReplyDeleteRadhika,
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great post. It was really easy to read and informative. It was funny and kept my attention the whole time!!! Good work.
Domonique Watson
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRadhika,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. Nice work flipping the convention of children as tiny, mobile disease bombs upside down. That creates an element of surprise that hooks your reader and makes them want to learn more.
I had some trouble with some of the sentence structure -- there were a few typos and omitted words that sometimes made the post feel choppy. "scientists have task of figuring out..." was one, and "Dr. Rohani... and Dr. Drake ... have shown increase..." was another. I will often read my final draft out loud before actually declaring it final. Its a good way to catch awkward sentences and typos.
Overall, you do a lovely job of making the topic accessible, interesting, and giving your reader a clear action item. Great work!