What Doctors Don't Tell YouA small study from Italy has found that immunity to whooping cough is short lived after either vaccination or natural disease.
Researchers from the University of Milan evaluated 38 children, aged 5-6 years, who had been immunised three times by age 11 months with a combined diphtheria, tetanus, tricomponent acellular pertussis and hepatitis B (DTaP-HBV) vaccine.
Their immune responses were compared with those of 21 children who had acquired pertussis during their first year of life and who had received only a diphtheria, tetanus and hepatitis B (DT-HBV) vaccination. The immunity to pertussis was similar in both groups.
The authors recommend that previously vaccinated or infected children receive a booster to maintain long term immunity (Infect Immun, 2001; 69: 4516-20).
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
