Wednesday, April 7, 2010 as of 11:14 AM ET
When I was pregnant with my daughter last year, my OB/GYN recommended that I receive the pertussis, or “ whooping cough ” vaccine right after delivery.
Hearing the words “whooping cough,” made me think of polio or smallpox, diseases that had been eliminated in the U.S. years ago.Yet pertussis is a real threat, particularly in infants who not only have the greatest risk for contracting pertussis, but the most reported cases. In 2010, there were more than four thousand babies who were known to be infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .Plus, newborns younger than 2 months old, the age that the first vaccine is administered, are most likely to have complications like pneumonia, convulsions, even death. Sixty-three percent of babies under one year are hospitalized each year and 25 babies died from pertussis in 2010. And because some cases are undiagnosed or go unreported, experts agree these numbers may be even higher.The reason that rates of pertussis have b...As a pediatrician, there are several key pieces of knowledge that I equip all new parents with before they head out into the world. However, the doctor’s office can ...
A new government study adds to the evidence that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative until recently found in many vaccines , does not increase children's risk o...
The early signs of autism are visible in the brains of 6-month-old infants, a new study finds, suggesting that future treatments could be given at this time, to less...
Only about half of the teenage girls in the U.S. have rolled up their sleeves for a controversial vaccine against cervical cancer — a rate well below those for two o...
International donors led by Britain and Bill Gates pledged $4.3 billion on Monday to buy vaccines to protect children in poor countries against potential killers suc...
Women should be vaccinated against pertussis, or whooping cough , during pregnancy rather than after giving birth because postpartum vaccinations do not provide enou...
Over the course of one summer vacation, Tyler Ludlum went from being a healthy 10-year-old, looking forward to the pool, to an emotionally and physically traumatized...
A large group of U.S. doctors on Monday gave the green light for pediatricians to offer vaccines to close family members of babies who are too young to get shots the...
A cluster of suspected whooping cough cases in Colorado was actually most likely a "pseudo-outbreak," according to an investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease C...
A national U.K. survey out Monday found no traces of an "autism epidemic," despite earlier reports that the developmental disorder has been rising quickly in recent ...
This week more shame was heaped upon the discredited British researcher whose work gave rise to the childhood-vaccines-cause-autism movement, as a prominent medical ...
The Supreme Court ruled that federal law shields vaccine makers from product-liability lawsuits in state court seeking damages for a child's injuries or death from a...
Washington state's worst outbreak of whooping cough in decades has prompted health officials to declare an epidemic, seek help from federal experts and urge resident...
More than $1 billion has been spent over the past decade researching autism. In some ways, the search for its causes looks like a long-running fishing expedition, wi...
At 18 months, Cristina Astacio spoke only a few words, wouldn't respond to her name and shunned other kids in her day care group. Last October, her worried parents f...
Researchers have recently used social media to track the spread of diseases such as influenza , and now they are attempting to use such technologies to tackle a diff...
The next time your baby is scheduled to receive a vaccination, you may want to consider booking the appointment in the afternoon.Researchers from the University of C...
Although the MMR vaccine has been linked to a heightened risk of a rare blood disorder, other childhood vaccines do not appear to be, researchers reported Monday.The...
Dr. Leila Denmark, the world's oldest practicing physician when she retired at age 103, died Sunday in Athens, her family members said. She was 114.Denmark became th...
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2012 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. All market data delayed 20 minutes.
