health

The best protection against whooping cough is immunization. Since the
1940s, the vaccine that protects against pertussis has been combined with
vaccines against diphtheria and tetanus in a single vaccine. The American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends a total of five doses of the
combined vaccine in children between the ages of two months and six
years. Neither the vaccine nor getting the disease confers permanent
immunity against whooping cough, however; the effectiveness of the vaccine
fades away in three to five years after the last shot.
Because an increasing number of cases of whooping cough are being
diagnosed in teenagers, in 2005 the AAP recommended that all teenagers
receive an additional booster shot of vaccine. This measure is intended to
protect younger children as well as the adolescents, because the evidence
indicates that many cases of whooping cough in infants are caused by the
infection being transmitted to them by older family members. For adults
less than sxity-five years of age, one booster of whooping cough vaccine
should be given combined with the once every ten years tetanus/
diphtheria booster. This is especially important in prospective parents
and grandparents and those health care workers who work in pediatrics.