Many vaccines need a booster shot a number of years later, but research has shown that the whooping cough vaccine stands out as one that is ineffective in a very short amount of time. A new study shows that the vaccine plummets in effectiveness shortly after it is administered. The New England Journal of Medicine writes that more than 26,000 people have contracted whopping cough this year. The journal labels this the largest outbreak in 50 years, and says that it is in part because of the ineffective vaccines.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial illness that causes uncontrollable coughing. The nature of the illness makes it almost impossible for an adult to work, or for a child to sit quietly in class. The illness also normally comes with a fever, and can last up to 6 weeks. If an infant catches whooping cough, he or she can die from the sickness. In other cases, babies have become disabled because of the violent illness. Because the disease is contagious, people with whooping cough are often quarantined. Children are almost always immunized for this sickness before entering school, but the immunization has proven to be ineffective only a few years after it is issued.

In serious cases, whooping cough can turn into pneumonia, or cause convulsions. There have also been times that whooping cough has led people to contract a permanent seizure disorder or develops nose bleeds and ear infections. The National Health Institute says that the whooping cough can cause a lack of oxygen which will result in brain damage or a cerebral hemorrhage. There are times that children will develop mental retardation after whooping cough, or that it will cause slowed or stopped breathing in infants. If you or your child suffers from a high fever, a persistent cough or continuous vomiting, periods of stopped breathing, or seizures and convulsions in conjunction with a cough, then you may have pertussis.

The current vaccine for pertussis has been used since the 1990s, and loses 42 percent of its effectiveness within a year. Normally, doctors say that children need five doses of the vaccination between the ages of five and six, but will be at risk to obtaining the illness again by age 10. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the whooping cough vaccination will protect about 97 percent of all children for one year, but only 70 percent of children five years later. Despite the fact that the vaccine may not be entirely effective, doctors insist that children should still receive the shots.

They say that a vaccine is better than no vaccine at all. Doctors are more concerned about infants, and say that newborns who are too young to be vaccinated can die when their airway swell from the infection. The CDC says that 11 infants have already died this year from whooping cough, and 2 toddlers have been killed because of the illness. Because babies are at a serious risk to death from whooping cough, doctors say that they want to protect these young ones when they are at home or in the hospital from coming into contact with people who are ill. If you have whooping cough, then you should not spend time around infants who could catch the sickness.

Ultimately, America needs a new whooping cough vaccine. A doctor at the University of California-Los Angeles says that this needs to be a focal point for researching physicians. If you have contracted whooping cough, and believe that your medical personnel are to blame, then contact a medical malpractice attorney right away to express your concerns. Your lawsuit would be rendered viable if you can prove that the illness was preventable. For example, if a medical expert told you that the whooping cough vaccination was powerful and that you could spend time around people with the sickness without falling ill, or if they formulated other lies about the vaccine, then you may have a case. Talk to a medical malpractice attorney right away to get more information!