Whooping cough infections appear to be up (link1, link2, link3) so add that to the growing list of formerly defeated diseases that we have to deal with in our current national experiment in Federal governmenting.

Whooping cough is a horrible disease caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis that predominantly kills children less than a year old(1).  The bacteria was  discovered in 1906  by Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou at the Pasteur Institute in Brussels  when it was first grown on petri dishes.  Initially named Haemophilus pertussis, eventually (note to self – when?) it was realized to be different enough from other species in Haemophilus that it got is own Genus named after Bordet, thus, Bordetella (1).  It’s only hitting me now that that means “little Bordet”, I hope they did that out of a sense of humor.

A vaccine* was developed in about 1912 (also by Bordet and Gengou(2)) but did not come into widespread use until the 1920s or 30s, which is a shame, because even in the modern age estimates are that globally it kills hundreds of thousands of children every year(3).  Those pre-vaccine years must have been horrible.  I challenge anyone to watch the video of a child suffering from whooping cough linked here and not be disturbed.

References

1. Crowcroft NS, Andrews N, Rooney C, et alDeaths from pertussis are underestimated in EnglandArchives of Disease in Childhood 2002;86:336-338.
2. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee to Review the Adverse Consequences of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines; Howson CP, Howe CJ, Fineberg HV, editors. Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines: A Report of the Committee to Review the Adverse Consequences of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1991. B, Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines: A Brief Chronology. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234365/
3. Crowcroft NS, Pebody RG. Recent developments in pertussis. Lancet. 2006 Jun 10;367(9526):1926-36. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68848-X. PMID: 16765762.

Notes added later:

* the Pertussis vaccine… we … or some we’s… use now is different than the one that I got in the 1970s – that is another tunnel within this rabbit hole. There is also a really interesting story that saw a switch from the Pertussis vaccine formulation I got (DTP) and the one they give now(DTaP) because the old formulation really did have to many serious side effects.  Despite what the US Government is… officially(?).. saying, vaccine safety has always been a priority in this country.  I would be shocked if this 1912 Pertussis vaccine was “the same” as the one I got  – despite nonsense to the contrary, vaccines are carefully optimized for safety and effectiveness.  Standards in medical science changed pretty dramatically between 1912 and 1970.  For sure they didn’t make the vaccine I got using the 1912 method, but its possible that the strain of bacteria was the same and that parts of the production process were inherited from that first production.  Those are exactly the kind of rabbit holes I like to explore.