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highplainsdem

(58,942 posts)
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 06:10 PM Sep 30

Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough, the State's First Pertussis Death in 13 Years

Source: Mississippi Free Press

A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough, the Mississippi State Department of Health announced on Monday, marking the state’s first whooping cough death in 13 years. The infant was less than two months old and was not old enough to receive the pertussis vaccine, the agency said.

Mississippi has seen 115 pertussis cases from Jan. 1, 2025, to Sept. 29. Through all of 2024, the state had only detected 49 whooping cough cases, MSDH reported. Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said that Mississippi’s last whooping cough deaths were in 2008 and 2012.

“We do believe that declining vaccination rates are impacting this,” he told reporters on Sept. 29. “Mississippi, as you know, scores very high with our rate of vaccination for our infants and school-aged children, but we don’t score nearly as well with adults. And so, our concern is that adult Mississippians are not maintaining the pertussis immunity, which puts our babies at risk.”

-snip-

Pertussis could linger anywhere between two to eight weeks in a person if left untreated, Edney said. In adults, pertussis is typically mild, and he said people usually think they have a common cold. People should quarantine for anywhere between six to 21 days if they have pertussis, he said.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-baby-dies-of-whooping-cough-the-states-first-pertussis-death-in-13-years/

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough, the State's First Pertussis Death in 13 Years (Original Post) highplainsdem Sep 30 OP
Whooping cough is PREVENTABLE with a vaccine. Folks put their kids and other kids at riversedge Sep 30 #1
+1 SheltieLover Sep 30 #2
I just knew this was going to be connected to vaccine denialism, even thought the baby was too young to be ... eppur_se_muova Sep 30 #3
The denialism seems to be widespread: ClaudetteCC Sep 30 #6
Interesting story progressoid Sep 30 #9
RFKjr is thrilled. His plan is working. Irish_Dem Sep 30 #4
The first domino falls. BidenRocks Sep 30 #5
Heckuva job, Bobby 0rganism Sep 30 #7
We need more of a memory of what diseases like this were like. ananda Sep 30 #8
This is what whooping cough looks and sounds like. 3catwoman3 Sep 30 #10
My grandmother had whooping cough as a child - in the early 1900s Rhiannon12866 Sep 30 #11
Unacceptable ck4829 Oct 1 #12
RFK!!! This is just the first of many to come PortTack Oct 1 #13
That's why we have to give the DTaP vaccine to young kids IronLionZion Oct 1 #14

riversedge

(78,762 posts)
1. Whooping cough is PREVENTABLE with a vaccine. Folks put their kids and other kids at
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 06:15 PM
Sep 30

risk. Sure, they have the pleasure of not vaccinating --because they can just say NO,
Yet, they put their neighbor kids and kids at school at risk for the PREVENTABLE DISEASE.


DAME THESE SELFISH FOLKS MAKE ME SICK!

eppur_se_muova

(40,521 posts)
3. I just knew this was going to be connected to vaccine denialism, even thought the baby was too young to be ...
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 06:20 PM
Sep 30

vaccinated himself. OTHERS AROUND HIM weren't, so he caught it from someone who could have been protected from it if they'd just gotten their regular shots.

BidenRocks

(2,502 posts)
5. The first domino falls.
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 06:28 PM
Sep 30

More child deaths to follow. Tis the season.

Vaccinate or go to jail for child endangerment!

Yeah, right.

0rganism

(25,396 posts)
7. Heckuva job, Bobby
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 06:52 PM
Sep 30

Yeah, we're gonna be seeing a lot more of this for the foreseeable future. Greatness!

ananda

(33,946 posts)
8. We need more of a memory of what diseases like this were like.
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 07:08 PM
Sep 30

My grandmother got smallpox and survived it without
scars because her doctor told her he had a special oil
which would prevent scarring, so of course it did
(placebo effect). She was lucky.

My dad got whooping cough when he was four and
survived it... but when he and my grandma described
it, I was really glad I had received the DPT vaccine.

I did get chicken pox and measles. Measles, for me,
was a nothingburger; but it gave my sister
encephalitis, which she eventually slept her way out of.

I saw what shingles did to my great aunt and both my
parents. It was horrible.

I was able to get all the shingles vaccines, thank goodness.

I really feel bad for the people who won't be able to get
vaccines that are so beneficial and life-saving, and I
guess we're in for a very hard bout of natural selection
and survival of the fittest... and it won't be pretty.

Rhiannon12866

(246,730 posts)
11. My grandmother had whooping cough as a child - in the early 1900s
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 11:50 PM
Sep 30

As did another child who was her friend and neighbor - before there was a vaccine.

IronLionZion

(50,293 posts)
14. That's why we have to give the DTaP vaccine to young kids
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 07:20 AM
Oct 1

the P is for Pertussis. Sure 2 months is too young for the vaccine. But it means someone else around this baby had the infection. Less people vaccinated means more of these viruses are in circulation.



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