Whooping Cough kills 23 children in Colombia

 Posted by on November 10, 2012  No Responses »
Nov 102012
 
Whooping Cough kills 23 children in Colombia

So far in 2012, whooping cough has killed 23 children under 5 years of age in Bogota, Colombia, nearly doubling the number of fatalities from last year ( 14 victims ), it is being reported. The majority of the victims has been in children under 1 year of age, highlighting the danger this disease poses to infants. Pertussis has been making a sort of resurgence worldwide lately, with higher than normal incidence being reported in many countries, which is a worrying development. The causes of the increase are still unclear; partly, the new, acellular vaccine DTaP seems to provide shorter span protection ———->FULL ARTICLE

Meningitis kills 11 in three days in the Ivory Coast

 Posted by on February 10, 2012  2 Responses »
Feb 102012
 
Meningitis kills 11 in three days in the Ivory Coast

Meningitis doesn’t play around, it maims, debilitates and kills very fast. In just 3 days in February a meningitis outbreak in the Ivory Coast has killed 11 people, as reported by Examiner.com. A vaccine costs about $5 which is too much for many families to afford, thus forcing them to skip it. This tragedy highlights the importance of the work of organizations such as GAVI and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who work at making vaccines available to poor people in developing countries. According to Examiner.com: “The symptoms of bacterial meningitis are sudden, with fever, stiff neck, body aches ———->FULL ARTICLE

Vaccine Preventable Suffering – Mahi Abdallah

 Posted by on September 6, 2011  2 Responses »
Sep 062011
 
Vaccine Preventable Suffering - Mahi Abdallah

Little Mahi is very unlucky: he nearly died of measles. He contracted measles while traveling overseas. He was not vaccinated due to his young age. He was 9 months when his family left for Kenya. Although Mahi’s parents intended to get him vaccinated on time according to the recommended schedule, they didn’t know that although the first shot of the MMR vaccine isn’t given until 12 months, for overseas travelers different rules apply. Mahi should have been given a vaccine prior to his trip to Kenya. His chances of getting the disease would have been slashed by over 90% if ———->FULL ARTICLE

Vaccine Preventable Death – Gavin Norton

 Posted by on August 12, 2011  64 Responses »
Aug 122011
 
Vaccine Preventable Death - Gavin Norton

Age at death – 10 weeks Cause of death – Pertussis (whooping cough) Vaccination status – Unvaccinated due to young age What happened – When Gavin was born his parents felt “absolute joy — just elation.” Unfortunately that was not meant to last. Gavin was taken away from them by the dreaded killer, whooping cough. When Gavin was 2 months old, the Nortons planned a vacation to celebrate Christmas with family in Utah. To be safe, Gavin’s mom, Natalie, took him to his doctor for a general check up. Gavin was given the green light for the trip. About a ———->FULL ARTICLE

Over 1,100 children killed by measles in Congo

 Posted by on July 25, 2011  6 Responses »
Jul 252011
 
Over 1,100 children killed by measles in Congo

In some cultures, there used to be a time when parents were instructed not to count their children, or in some cases not to name them, until they caught, and survived, certain childhood diseases. Parents used to have 8, 9, or 10 children with the hopes that a few would survive to adulthood. Nowadays, modern medicine, and modern living conditions, have made it so that most of us can have just two children and be reasonably assured that they will not die needlessly from a preventable disease. It is undeniable that vaccines played a major role in that. However, even ———->FULL ARTICLE

Meningitis and measles kill 41 in Nigeria

 Posted by on May 23, 2011  No Responses »
May 232011
 

Meningitis and measles have killed 41 people in Yobe State, Nigeria in the past 18 months. In 2010, 322 cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis were recorded with 22 fatalities. This year, through May, another 51 cases and 4 more deaths were reported, for a total toll of 26 deaths. Measles caused 7 deaths out of 464 cases in 2010, whereas in the current year it caused 3,022 cases and 8 deaths so far, for a total of 15 measles deaths. Officials with state health departments have procured drugs on measles, meningitis and other diseases and that they had already been distributed ———->FULL ARTICLE

Vaccine Preventable Suffering – Kailis Smith

 Posted by on May 17, 2011  2 Responses »
May 172011
 
Vaccine Preventable Suffering - Kailis Smith

Age at death – 9 weeks Cause of death – Whooping cough Vaccination status – Unvaccinated due to young age What happened – Little Kailis was taken to the doctor with cold-like symptoms, sometime towards the middle/end of March 2011. He was sent home; his parents were told he had a cold. However, things got worse and within a couple of days he had to be rushed back to the hospital. He had stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated twice on his way back to hospital. Kailis was put on life support on March 31st; he was given only ———->FULL ARTICLE

 Older Entries