Threads that go off topic - here and other forums.

[DiscoMick]

I got adult whooping cough when I was 45. It's no joke. Cost me my little courier business, as I couldn't put in a full day for over 9 months. Never been the same since.

Yeah, I feel for you. It's a terrible disease, one of those making a comeback because some people refuse to get vaccinated because they've spent too much time reading Dr Google.
Go down to Byron Bay and one-third of the population are unvaccinated, which means some of them are walking around spreading terrible diseases they are carrying. Dangerous place, Byron Bay.

[Tins]

Yeah, I feel for you. It's a terrible disease, one of those making a comeback because some people refuse to get vaccinated because they've spent too much time reading Dr Google.
Go down to Byron Bay and one-third of the population are unvaccinated, which means some of them are walking around spreading terrible diseases they are carrying. Dangerous place, Byron Bay.

I had never heard of Adult Whooping Cough, let alone a vaccine for it. This was nearly 20 years ago. I went to the doc with the cough and the fever, but he didn't pick it up. It was only when we saw something in the paper about it and told him that he tested. Trouble is, that was about four weeks in, and too late to treat it.

Good thing? I don't need the vaccine now.

Bad thing? Self diagnosis is stupid. Not even doctors should do it.

[DiscoMick]

Whooping cough can be fatal to babies, who may just stop breathing. It can also be very serious for older children and adults and may become pneumonia.
Often, people just think their cough is a cold, so they don't take precautions. The first three weeks of infection are the most dangerous for other people as the infected can spread the disease without even realizing they are sick, so they infect those around them. Once it gets into a group, such as a school class or workplace, it can spread rapidly.
The best answer is to be immunized as this reduces the chances of becoming infected, plus it reduces the chances that an infected person will spread it to others. Immunised people can still be infected, but immunisation may also reduce the severity of the infection.
There is currently an outbreak of whooping cough in parts of several states, particularly NSW, and especially Northern NSW, usually linked to areas where a significant number of people have not been immunized. Local councils can usually advise about local immunization programs.
Some people get jumpy about a possible reaction to the vaccine, but the risks are minor compared with the dangers of being infected with the disease, which can kill.
Personally, I tend to look suspiciously at people with a serious cough and stay away from them, just in case.
If you do get sick, go to the doctor, get treated, get a medical certificate and stay at home - don't soldier on bravely, while infecting others at work - you're not doing anyone any favours and you're putting others at risk of serious illness. Any boss who badgers a person sick with a serious illness such as whooping cough to come back to work is a stupid, irresponsible fool, in my opinion.
Whooping Cough

[Spartacus]

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day

[cuppabillytea]

Wow Mick 10/10 for swift change of subject. wouldn't have a dose of the BLUES by any chance.?

[DiscoMick]

Funny.

[Tins]

Whooping cough can be fatal to babies, who may just stop breathing. It can also be very serious for older children and adults and may become pneumonia.
Often, people just think their cough is a cold, so they don't take precautions. The first three weeks of infection are the most dangerous for other people as the infected can spread the disease without even realizing they are sick, so they infect those around them. Once it gets into a group, such as a school class or workplace, it can spread rapidly.
The best answer is to be immunized as this reduces the chances of becoming infected, plus it reduces the chances that an infected person will spread it to others. Immunised people can still be infected, but immunisation may also reduce the severity of the infection.
There is currently an outbreak of whooping cough in parts of several states, particularly NSW, and especially Northern NSW, usually linked to areas where a significant number of people have not been immunized. Local councils can usually advise about local immunization programs.
Some people get jumpy about a possible reaction to the vaccine, but the risks are minor compared with the dangers of being infected with the disease, which can kill.
Personally, I tend to look suspiciously at people with a serious cough and stay away from them, just in case.
If you do get sick, go to the doctor, get treated, get a medical certificate and stay at home - don't soldier on bravely, while infecting others at work - you're not doing anyone any favours and you're putting others at risk of serious illness. Any boss who badgers a person sick with a serious illness such as whooping cough to come back to work is a stupid, irresponsible fool, in my opinion.
Whooping Cough

Agreed. WC is a notifiable disease. It was seriously debilitating, and continues to have consequences for my health. An added consequence is that if I get any sort of cough these days it scares the bejesus out of me.

Pretty sure GPs get better notification of WC's presence in the community these days than 18 years ago. I certainly hope so.

[Fifth Columnist]

I had it as a child in the '40s, so did my sisters, so did all my friends. It was probably the most uncomfortable of the chidhood diseases but no-one died of it and no-one was left with any lasting effect.
Modern children are raised in such sterile conditions that they don't develope a stong resistance to diseases hence, what was just a horrible couple of weeks off school is now determined as dangerous.

[JDNSW]

Whooping cough has always been dangerous, but until vaccination was available, there was nothing you could do about it. As said - a lot of kids got it, most survived. But you also have to remember that a lot of babies did not anyway, so the ones that died from whooping cough were hardly noticed. I am a twin, and like many such, rather light weight when born - my mother was offended by the Matron's comment - "Better get the babies christened straight away - these little ones slip away so easily!". I am reminded of a tour I made some years ago of the small cemetery in the (abandoned 1932) village where my father spent part of his childhood. Out of 33 graves, only four were adults. Most of the others were under five.

It is a reasonable guess that whooping cough was only a small contributor to these deaths - most were from other infectious diseases with possibly gastroenteritis being the major contributor. The only one to die there from my father's family (age five) was from diphtheria, also a disease now virtually unseen today as a result of vaccination (vaccination was available then (1909), but only for the rich).

[incisor]

Wife and​ I just ordered our whooping cough boosters as our eldest daughter has a little one due in October...

Having seen what it is capable of there is no way we would risk it.