Whooping Cough? What's Whooping Cough?

Most of us are blissfully unaware of some of the severe diseases that plagued our grandparents' and great-grandparents' generations - diseases like polio, diphtheria, rubella. That's because vaccines have all but eradicated these illnesses from our culture. Even whooping cough, or pertussis, was on a steep decline after a vaccine was developed in the 1940s.

Dr. Jane Siegel, the director of infection control at Children's and a professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, calls immunizations "one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th centry."

Unfortunately, as parents become more lax with vaccines, some of these diseases are making a comeback, pertussis being the one that's making news today.

USA Today says kids who aren't vaccinated against pertussis are 23 times more likely to develop the upper respiratory disease than those who are up-to-date on their shots.

So, what's the solution? Follow the CDC's vaccination schedule. It's been tested, and it's safe. And it's the very best way to prevent a resurgence of those scary diseases we'd all prefer to learn about in history books.