Whooping cough kills three more babies{uk}

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/nov/30/whooping-cough-three-babies-october


The government has launched an immunisation programme for pregnant women after an outbreak of whooping cough. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA



Whooping cough claimed three more babies' lives in October, the Health Protection Agency has said, bringing the total number of deaths of infants under the age of one this year to 13.

It is not yet clear what impact the immunisation programme for pregnant women launched by the government in September will have, although there appears to be a reduction in cases among newborns.

Babies are routinely immunised against whooping cough – also known as pertussis – along with diptheria, tetanus and polio from the age of two months, but many of the deaths have occurred while babies are unprotected in the first weeks of life.

According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), there were 1,614 cases of whooping cough in England and Wales in October, bringing the total this year to 7,728, nearly 10 times higher than the same period in 2008, the previous peak.