Research has revealed a new explanation for the pattern of whooping cough outbreaks in the US as the disease is expected to hit certain areas of the country especially hard this spring. For years experts have blamed a low-quality vaccine for spikes in the disease, which can be deadly when contracted by infants. The researchers found that vaccinating children and teens brought the rates for infant pertussis down by 25 percent. There were 17,972 reported cases in the United States in 2016, including six infant deaths, according to the CDC. Before the whooping cough vaccine was introduced in the 1940s, the majority of children were exposed to the bacterium that caused it, Bordetella pertussis, and their immune systems reacted by building up long-lasting immunity to it.

Source: Daily Mail March 28, 2018 18:04 UTC