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Doctors fear that falling vaccination rates may lead to a dangerous bacterial infection making a comeback, putting children at risk.
Hib is a disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b which, despite the name, is not related to the flu. It’s spread through respiratory droplets, like those caused by coughing or sneezing.
Children under five are the most at risk, as are those with compromised immune systems.
Hib can be mild or severe, with severe cases potentially leading to complications including throat swelling that impairs breathing, damage to the spine and swelling of the brain.
Severe Hib can cause lifelong disability or death.
Prior to the Hib vaccine, which was introduced in 1987, roughly 20,000 children in the U.S. caught Hib each year and about 1,000 died from it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the perecentage of babies who got the full series of Hib vaccines fell from 78.8% to 77.6% between 2019 and 2021.
The agency does track Hib cases; however, because states don’t report most cases quickly, the numbers can lag for a year or more.
As of March 21, the CDC showed eight cases for this year in Ohio, New York, Kansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Doctors fear that number may be lower than the true number, both because of delayed reporting and because younger doctors might not recognize a disease that many doctors have not seen in years.