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highplainsdem

(58,433 posts)
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 07:10 PM Tuesday

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 Tuesday OP
Whooping cough is PREVENTABLE with a vaccine. Folks put their kids and other kids at riversedge Tuesday #1
+1 SheltieLover Tuesday #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 Tuesday #3
The denialism seems to be widespread: ClaudetteCC Tuesday #6
Interesting story progressoid Tuesday #9
RFKjr is thrilled. His plan is working. Irish_Dem Tuesday #4
The first domino falls. BidenRocks Tuesday #5
Heckuva job, Bobby 0rganism Tuesday #7
We need more of a memory of what diseases like this were like. ananda Tuesday #8
This is what whooping cough looks and sounds like. 3catwoman3 Tuesday #10
My grandmother had whooping cough as a child - in the early 1900s Rhiannon12866 Wednesday #11
Unacceptable ck4829 Wednesday #12
RFK!!! This is just the first of many to come PortTack Wednesday #13
That's why we have to give the DTaP vaccine to young kids IronLionZion Wednesday #14

riversedge

(78,100 posts)
1. Whooping cough is PREVENTABLE with a vaccine. Folks put their kids and other kids at
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 07:15 PM
Tuesday

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

(40,167 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, 07:20 PM
Tuesday

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

(2,306 posts)
5. The first domino falls.
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 07:28 PM
Tuesday

More child deaths to follow. Tis the season.

Vaccinate or go to jail for child endangerment!

Yeah, right.

0rganism

(25,342 posts)
7. Heckuva job, Bobby
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 07:52 PM
Tuesday

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

ananda

(33,465 posts)
8. We need more of a memory of what diseases like this were like.
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 08:08 PM
Tuesday

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

(244,103 posts)
11. My grandmother had whooping cough as a child - in the early 1900s
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 12:50 AM
Wednesday

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

IronLionZion

(50,026 posts)
14. That's why we have to give the DTaP vaccine to young kids
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 08:20 AM
Wednesday

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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