Vaccination vital after whooping cough scare

The mother of a baby who contracted whooping cough just weeks before she was due to be vaccinated is reminding all parents to protect their children against the potentially-deadly infection.

Emily Dalton’s daughter, Eve, was hospitalised at six weeks because she was so ill.

Whooping cough — a highly contagious bacterial infection — is a leading cause of vaccine-preventable death worldwide, with many cases in the Third World.

Ironically, Emily and her husband, returned to Newark from Africa to start their family in a safer environment, but Emily believes some people in the town are choosing not to vaccinate their children.

Emily (32) of London Road, said: “Eve is fine now but if a less strong baby picked it up it could have been fatal.

“It started like a normal cold, with a slight fever, dry cough and blocked nose. I took her to the doctor, who thought it was a virus.

“She got rapidly worse, with a horrible cough that made her blue in the face. She stopped breathing for a few seconds after each coughing fit.”

Emily took Eve back to the doctor who transferred her to King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield.

“We were in hospital overnight. They drained the mucus off her chest and put her on antibiotics. It was really scary,” she said.

Whooping cough infection can occur at any age, but it is more common in under-fives.

It is recommended that babies receive a primary course of diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) vaccinations at two months, three months and four months. They then require a pre-school booster between the ages of 31/2 and five.

Emily spent two years editing a magazine in Rwanda and returned to Newark with her husband, Mr Tom Martin (23) a freelance photographer, when she was five months’ pregnant.

“We came back from Africa to have Eve in a safe, healthy environment. The NHS is a great system but can’t function effectively if people ignore doctors’ advice. Vaccinations are vital for the health of the whole community,” she said.

“Eve got whooping cough because people aren’t vaccinating against it. We have got to do something to raise awareness.

“You don’t just vaccinate for your own child. It’s for the other children who might not be old enough or as strong.”

Dr Jane Selwyn, of The Fountain Medical Centre, Newark, where Eve was treated, was concerned when she discovered it was whooping cough.

She said she had dealt with only a handful of cases in her 20 years as a GP because the national immunisation programme, introduced in the 1950s, had been so successful.

“We don’t see it very often any more. Most people are very good, bringing their child in for vaccinations at the appropriate ages but some do slip through the net for whatever reason or they are delayed,” Dr Selwyn said.

“Whooping cough is a highly infectious disease that remains a significant cause of illness and death in the very young. High coverage of immunisation must be maintained to protect those too young to be immunised.”