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I’m so happy to hear that so many of you enjoy my ramblings. Thanks to all who have related their enthusiasm for these weekly articles. Most have communicated quite positive reactions, especially when I mention the people, places and events that are important to me personally. However, I got chided last week. Two good friends said I had failed to pay up on my promise to keep you all updated on my granddaughter Rowan. Mea culpa! You’re right so time to pay up.

Baby Ro, is doing wonderfully. She’s taller (longer?) than 80 percent of her peers and weighs just a bit more than average. Her head is just the right size, her eyes are still blue, and I swear her hair is red. She’s started to flip over, sleeps all night, drools like a champ, makes great little noises to imitate Mary and Kate and likes the taste of lemon wedges. That last one is my fault. While out to lunch, I gave her a taste and she really liked it! Who knew? Kate and Andy are thinking about a nanny so Kate can go back to work part-time. They’re using a very good firm and I’m really impressed by the vetting process of the candidates. Medical clearances are stringent and among the issues the company strictly enforces are immunizations, especially whooping cough, otherwise called pertussis.

Whooping cough may sound like an antiquated sickness, but in reality it’s alive and well and still causing plenty of trouble in the U.S.

Whooping cough is a respiratory tract infection that is highly contagious. It’s most well-known for its severe hacking cough, which is usually followed by a high-pitched inhalation of air that makes a coarse, ‘whoop’ sound.

Whooping cough is most common in adolescents and adults, who pass it along to friends and family without realizing their cold-like symptoms are actually that of pertussis.

When adolescents or adults catch pertussis, they may develop a severe cough that can lead to missed days of work or school. Although their symptoms may be mild because they’ve been vaccinated, they can easily spread it to an infant, which is much more serious.

When babies are too young for the whooping cough vaccine or haven’t completed their vaccinations yet, they’re susceptible to severe complications.

If a baby catches pertussis, they can have severe trouble breathing, develop pneumonia and, in serious and thankfully rare cases, suffer brain damage or death. The reason they’re so vulnerable to such serious complications is because they can’t be vaccinated until they’re 2 months old.

Babies are typically immunized in a series of four injections, with the first one at 2 months old, the second at 4 months old, the third injection at 6 months old, and the final injection at 15 to 18 months old.

Until infants receive their third pertussis vaccine dose at 6 months, they’re particularly vulnerable to the illness.

Most fatal cases of whooping cough occur in babies under 4 months old, most of whom have caught it from their parents or grandparents, particularly their mothers.

Whooping cough is usually spread when someone with the disease coughs or sneezes while in close contact with others, who breathe in the bacteria that cause it.

In order to prevent any baby in your life from catching whooping cough, make sure everyone surrounding them – from family members to caregivers – are up-to-date on their pertussis vaccine.

If you’re currently pregnant, you should get the whooping cough vaccine during your third trimester. Getting the immunization between 27 and 36 weeks of your pregnancy will help you build up antibodies to fight off whooping cough – and you’ll pass these antibodies on to your newborn, partially protecting him or her before they can get their first dose.

And when your baby is old enough, make sure he or she gets all of the vaccine doses. Even by the third dose, they’ll have about 80 percent immunity to the illness – and even this partial protection can help prevent severe complications.

The great nanny search continues. They’re honing in to a real Mary Poppins, stay tuned.

Alfred Casale To Your Health
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_casale-3.jpg.optimal.jpgAlfred Casale To Your Health

By Alfred Casale

To Your Health

Dr. Alfred Casale is chairman of surgery for the Geisinger Heart Institute, co-director of the Cardiovascular Service Line for the Geisinger Health System and Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. Readers may write to him via [email protected].