Whooping cough outbreaks have begun in Russia: how to treat and prevent the disease

Whooping cough mainly affects children.

Photo: Svetlana MAKOVEEVA

… – Gennady Grigorievich, not very good news. Outbreaks of whooping cough have begun in Russian regions. Cases of infection have been recorded in the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions, St. Petersburg and Tatarstan. In some regions, the number of cases runs into the hundreds.

– This is information from the field, as I understand it.

– Data with reference to the territorial offices of Rospotrebnadzor.

– Yes I know.

– What do you recommend? What are the symptoms? How can you distinguish whooping cough from other infectious diseases? What to do, who to contact, how to treat?

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian politician and epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko

Photo: Ivan MAKEEV

– This disease is called “childhood infection”.

– Children are the first to get sick…

– Yes – in the early stages of life.

If they told you about Doctor Aibolit when you were a child…

– Yeah! Fairy tale by Korney Chukovsky.

Good doctor Aibolit –

He is sitting under a tree.

Come to him for treatment.

And the cow and the wolf…

– Here – Korney Ivanovich also writes about this.

But Dr. Aibolit was less fortunate than doctors, and even citizens of the current generation.

Because there is a vaccine against whooping cough. It is complex, has been used for a long time and is called DTP, adsorbed vaccine against whooping cough and diphtheria.

It is vaccinated in children who are already in the first year of life.

– Why do children get sick then?

– This, Sasha, is, above all, proof that the anti-vaccine movement, unfortunately, is still effective in terms of causing harm. Because they convince mothers not to vaccinate their children.

And mothers follow the example. Although, by the way, everyone was vaccinated against whooping cough at some point, when they were the same age as their little children are now, whom they seem to love, but commit a crime. Because if they don’t vaccinate children, if a child gets sick, there can be complications, even in the heart valves, etc. In general, an unpleasant disease.

– And here you go – flash!

– No, we cannot say that we are having an outbreak. Apparently these are statistics collected from group diseases.

– How to understand?

– Let’s say that if an unvaccinated child gets sick with whooping cough, those who are close to him, for example, in a daycare or kindergarten, will also get sick.

-And if they get vaccinated they won’t get sick?

– If a child is vaccinated, he will not get sick.

If you are weak, you can get sick, even if you are vaccinated. That is, in this case, the immune system did not have time to react to vaccines, but the disease will be much easier. It’s the most important thing.

In any case, vaccination will help.

That is, we have everything we need. Therefore, I simply implore mothers: do not do something stupid: vaccinate your children!

And this is not stupidity, but a crime against the health of your own child.

It is imperative to vaccinate him within the specified period, the children’s clinic has all the vaccinations. And it certainly convinces moms…

But now we have these dissident mothers with whooping cough.

– If a child gets sick, what measures should be taken?

– There is only one measure: go to the doctor and start treating the child. Treat very intensively so that there are no complications later.

To do this, any local pediatrician knows what to do.

And I would like my colleagues to be more persistent. Because you don’t want to and you don’t need to. You cannot act according to this principle. Write a receipt saying you refuse. That’s all. And everyone is fine, except the child, who will get sick and then have a long time to get out of this situation.

– What are the first symptoms? Are they the same as for any disease?

– Fever, exponential cough.

– How to understand – exponentially?

– Growing. She started coughing. Then more and more. And then he has attacks at night, to the point of stopping breathing, when he coughs. This is a serious illness. Another thing is that we forget it for many years. Because this criminal campaign did not exist, which is carried out for different purposes, confusing mothers that it is not necessary to vaccinate their children.

The vaccination of children is a great, supreme and responsible task of the State. And in those regions where they are not coping with this task, action must be taken, including by health leaders. Because this cannot be tolerated.

And the vaccination records of all children must also be analyzed. And for those children who have not been vaccinated, for those who have already passed the deadlines for subsequent applications, do this work.

– Accept. Thank you!