Timeline: Pertussis

Oct 29, 1600

First Outbreaks

http://www.medicinenet.com/pertussis/article.htm The first outbreaks were described to have happened in the 16th century Early symptoms can last for 1 to 2 weeks and usually include: Runny nose
Low-grade fever (generally minimal throughout the course of the disease)
Mild, occasional cough
Apnea — a pause in breathing (in infants) Picture-http://www.healthline.com/hlcmsresource/images/slideshow/worst-outbreaks-in-history/Most_Shocking_Outbreaks_in_History.jpg)

Oct 29, 1906

Isolated

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1082800/
Bordetella Pertussis (The bacteria that causes pertussis) has unknown origins, but in 1906 a Belgian doctor isolated it. http://media.historyofvaccines.org/images/000742_265.jpg

Nov 2, 1920

Vaccine Created

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertussis
Louis W. Sauer developed a vaccine for whooping cough at Evanston Hospital (Evanston, IL). Picture -http://media.cirrusmedia.com.au/PU_Media_Library/baby_gets_needle.jpg

Oct 28, 1922

Pertussis became a nationally reportable disease

How To Treat Pertussis http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038200.htm The infection is transferred through airborne droplets when an infected person coughs. Anyone who has not been vaccinated is highly likely to contract the disease just by spending time in the same room as an infected person. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/whoopingcough.htm (picture) http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2761/2546/1600/coughing spray.jpg

Oct 29, 1923

The highest number of pertussis-related deaths

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038200.htm
(approximately 9000) occurred

Oct 28, 1934

The highest number of pertussis cases

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038200.htm
(approximately 260,000) http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/images/incidence-graph.jpg

Nov 2, 1942

First DTP Combination Vaccine Created

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertussis
Pearl Kendrick combined the whole-cell pertussis vaccine with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids to generate the first DTP combination vaccine.

Oct 29, 1949

Pertussis is controlled

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038200.htm
The widespread use of whole-cell pertussis vaccines among infants since 1949 has resulted in the successful control of pertussis

Oct 29, 1976

The incidence of reported pertussis declined

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038200.htm
To a historical low of 1010 cases

Oct 29, 1992

Coverage with three doses of DTP or DT has increased

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038200.htm
Indicating progress toward the Childhood Immunization Initiative goal of 90% coverage

Nov 2, 2004

Pertussis Genome Sequenced

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertussis
The complete B. pertussis genome of 4,086,186 base pairs was sequenced.

Nov 2, 2010

Ten infants in California died

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertussis
Investigating the cases of the ten infant fatalities, it found that doctors had been misdiagnosing the infants' condition despite having seen infants on multiple visits.

Nov 2, 2010