Pertussis vaccine contain reduced amounts of pertussis antigens compared to DTaP vaccines. Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering studied pertussis in the 1930s. They developed and ran the first large scale study of a successful vaccine for the disease. During the 1970s and 1980s, a controversy erupted related to the question of whether the whole-cell pertussis component caused permanent brain injury in rare cases, called pertussis vaccine encephalopathy. Despite this allegation, doctors recommended the vaccine due to the overwhelming public health benefit, because the claimed rate was very low (one case per 310,000 immunizations, or about 50 cases out of the 15 million
Rh disease Rh disease Rh disease (also known as rhesus isoimmunisation, Rh (D) disease, rhesus incompatibility, rhesus disease, RhD hemolytic disease of the newborn, rhesus D hemolytic disease of the newborn or RhD HDN) is a type of hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). The disease ranges from mild to severe, and typically occurs only in some second or subsequent pregnancies of Rh negative women where the fetus's father is Rh positive, leading to a Rh+ pregnancy. During birth, the mother may be exposed to the infant's blood, and this causes the development of antibodies, which may affect the health of subsequent