Booster Shot

Eight Tech Coast companies have won nearly $2 million in state grants from the California Technology Investment Partnership, a 5-year-old program that matches federal technology awards. The companies were selected by the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that supports small high-tech firms.

LONDON — Through the frantic thrashing in the pool and the supercharged racket at the Water Polo Arena, Adam Krikorian thought he saw his goalie grab the ball. He was sure of it. So the U.S. coach kept his eye on play while pivoting toward officials, signaling for a timeout. His goalie, however, did not have the ball. It was loose in the desperate muddle of Australia scraping to sustain gold-medal hopes, down a goal in a women's semifinal game. And there are five reasons for officials to award a penalty shot in water polo, and calling a timeout without possession is one of them.

Public health officials say California's lackluster immunization rates could be a factor in the epidemic spread of whooping cough, a bacterial disease expected to take its largest toll in the state in five decades. California is one of only 11 states that does not require middle school students to receive a booster shot against whooping cough, also known as pertussis, which infects the respiratory system. The state is the only one in the nation to report such a dramatic surge in pertussis, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With the nation's attention focused on dire news about whooping cough, parents' inclination may be to hustle their children -- or themselves -- in for a booster shot. Will there be a run on the whooping cough vaccine? If there is, doctors should be able to handle the demand. The supply of whooping cough -- or pertussis -- vaccines is fine, according to a spokesman with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "The CDC is not aware of any supply issues as far as vaccines that protect against pertussis," said Thomas Skinner in an email to the Los Angeles Times on Friday morning.

Next fall, seventh-through12th-grade students in California will be required under a new state law to get a whooping cough booster shot before starting school, health officials said this week. Before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 354 last week, California had been one of only 11 states that did not require middle school students to get a booster shot against whooping cough, or pertussis. The legislation had been stalled for several years amid concerns that California would have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for vaccinations for children on Medi-Cal, the government insurance program for the poor.

More than 1,000 people in California have been infected with whooping cough this year, and health officials have encouraged the public to get immunizations against the bacterial disease. A new law goes into effect July 1 requiring middle school and high school students to show proof that they have received a whooping cough booster shot, known as Tdap, before the start of the new school year. Authorities on Friday urged parents to make sure their children get the vaccine early in the summer to avoid a rush of vaccinations in August and September.

Whooping cough is a respiratory infection caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. An airborne disease that can also be spread through direct contact, it infects infants when someone with the disease breathes on them or coughs or sneezes in close proximity to them. Before widespread use of the pertussis vaccine, which became available in the 1940s, the disease killed more than 5,000 people in the United States each year. By 1976, the number of cases had decreased by more than 99%. The disease is still cyclical, however, said Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, leading to a spike in cases every five years or so. The last peak year was 2005; then there were 3,182 cases and 18 deaths in the state of California.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on Wednesday recommended that adolescents receive a booster shot of the meningitis vaccine at age 16 because the effects of the vaccine fade more quickly than had been anticipated. [ Updated Wednesday, 11:15 a.m.: The original version of this story incorrectly said that it was an FDA advisory committee that made the recommendation.] Researchers had originally thought that the benefits of the vaccine persisted for at least 10 years, but new evidence presented to the committee Wednesday suggests that its benefits begin to wane after five years.

Who is to blame for the spread in California of whooping cough, which has killed nine infants this year? Unimmunized adults and teenagers are one major factor, health officials say. "We don't think it is the coverage level in babies and toddlers that is the problem," but the lack of vaccination in adults and teens, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease...

Whooping cough is now at epidemic levels in California and the state could record the highest number of illnesses and death due to the disease in 50 years, the state's top health official said Wednesday. Reported cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, have quadrupled over the same time period last year, said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health. Five infants — all under 3 months — have died, including two in Los Angeles County and one in San Bernardino County.

More than 1,000 people in California have been infected with whooping cough this year, and health officials have encouraged the public to get immunizations against the bacterial disease. A new law goes into effect July 1 requiring middle school and high school students to show proof that they have received a whooping cough booster shot, known as Tdap, before the start of the new school year. Authorities on Friday urged parents to make sure their children get the vaccine early in the summer to avoid a rush of vaccinations in August and September.

The dramatic surge in whooping cough in California in 2010, in which 10 infants were killed by the bacterium and more people were sickened than in any year since 1947, has scientists looking for answers. Researchers are focusing on a surprising trend: 7- to 10-year-olds are getting the disease at higher levels than doctors would have suspected. Public health experts are concerned that children in that age group may not be protected by the final booster in a series of five shots that begin when they are 2 months old. The last booster is given between the ages of 4 and 6. "The big question for the vaccine is, how long does it protect you for?"

Whooping cough is a respiratory infection caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. An airborne disease that can also be spread through direct contact, it infects infants when someone with the disease breathes on them or coughs or sneezes in close proximity to them. Before widespread use of the pertussis vaccine, which became available in the 1940s, the disease killed more than 5,000 people in the United States each year. By 1976, the number of cases had decreased by more than 99%. The disease is still cyclical, however, said Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, leading to a spike in cases every five years or so. The last peak year was 2005; then there were 3,182 cases and 18 deaths in the state of California.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on Wednesday recommended that adolescents receive a booster shot of the meningitis vaccine at age 16 because the effects of the vaccine fade more quickly than had been anticipated. [ Updated Wednesday, 11:15 a.m.: The original version of this story incorrectly said that it was an FDA advisory committee that made the recommendation.] Researchers had originally thought that the benefits of the vaccine persisted for at least 10 years, but new evidence presented to the committee Wednesday suggests that its benefits begin to wane after five years.

Next fall, seventh-through12th-grade students in California will be required under a new state law to get a whooping cough booster shot before starting school, health officials said this week. Before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 354 last week, California had been one of only 11 states that did not require middle school students to get a booster shot against whooping cough, or pertussis. The legislation had been stalled for several years amid concerns that California would have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for vaccinations for children on Medi-Cal, the government insurance program for the poor.

Who is to blame for the spread in California of whooping cough, which has killed nine infants this year? Unimmunized adults and teenagers are one major factor, health officials say. "We don't think it is the coverage level in babies and toddlers that is the problem," but the lack of vaccination in adults and teens, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease...

LONDON — Through the frantic thrashing in the pool and the supercharged racket at the Water Polo Arena, Adam Krikorian thought he saw his goalie grab the ball. He was sure of it. So the U.S. coach kept his eye on play while pivoting toward officials, signaling for a timeout. His goalie, however, did not have the ball. It was loose in the desperate muddle of Australia scraping to sustain gold-medal hopes, down a goal in a women's semifinal game. And there are five reasons for officials to award a penalty shot in water polo, and calling a timeout without possession is one of them.

With the nation's attention focused on dire news about whooping cough, parents' inclination may be to hustle their children -- or themselves -- in for a booster shot. Will there be a run on the whooping cough vaccine? If there is, doctors should be able to handle the demand. The supply of whooping cough -- or pertussis -- vaccines is fine, according to a spokesman with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "The CDC is not aware of any supply issues as far as vaccines that protect against pertussis," said Thomas Skinner in an email to the Los Angeles Times on Friday morning.

Public health officials say California's lackluster immunization rates could be a factor in the epidemic spread of whooping cough, a bacterial disease expected to take its largest toll in the state in five decades. California is one of only 11 states that does not require middle school students to receive a booster shot against whooping cough, also known as pertussis, which infects the respiratory system. The state is the only one in the nation to report such a dramatic surge in pertussis, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Whooping cough is now at epidemic levels in California and the state could record the highest number of illnesses and death due to the disease in 50 years, the state's top health official said Wednesday. Reported cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, have quadrupled over the same time period last year, said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health. Five infants — all under 3 months — have died, including two in Los Angeles County and one in San Bernardino County.