Vaccination, Lax Nation

In California, an outbreak of whooping cough — a bacterial infection that results in fits of coughing — has reached epidemic proportions. Five infants, all of them Latino, have died this year. California health officials are urging residents to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, in Colorado, an outbreak of meningitis has killed two Fort Collins residents.

The two diseases aren't connected except that both are preventable by routine vaccinations starting in childhood.

Dr. Richard Wenzel, former president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases and current professor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, runs through the reasons diseases public health defeated have experienced a resurgence.

Audio Embed: PRI & WNYC's program The Takeaway 7/1/10, Hosts Celeste Headlee & John Hockenberry.