Cases of pertussis — a condition better known as whooping cough — are on the rise in New York. That’s prompted a health alert from the state’s Sullivan County, urging parents to be aware that the respiratory tract infection is circulating and to keep a lookout for symptoms in their children.
Whooping cough causes cold-like symptoms in its initial stage, followed by symptoms like a characteristic “whoop” sound when children inhale at the end of a coughing fit, vomiting during or after coughing fits and struggling to breathe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Coughing fits can last for up to 10 weeks, the CDC says.
Whooping cough was once nearly eradicated in the U.S., but the illness has slowly made a comeback since the mid-’90s. So, what’s going on exactly and how concerned should parents be?
What’s happening?
New York’s Sullivan County Department of Public Health has issued a health advisory to let parents know about a rise in whooping cough cases in the area. The agency noted on Facebook that five additional cases of whooping cough were confirmed in children of various ages earlier this week. Pertussis cases have also seen spikes nationwide over the past decade.
“This is an important advisory, and comes during National Immunization Awareness Month,” said Karen Holden, director of public health in Sullivan County, said in a statement. “This month reinforces why vaccines are important for people of all ages and how they can help prevent serious, sometimes deadly, diseases and illnesses.”
The alert doesn’t say why whooping cough cases are increasing, but does note that the “most effective way” to prevent whooping cough is through vaccination with the DTaP vaccine for babies and children, and with Tdap vaccine for preteens, teens and adults.
Do I need to worry?
It depends. “If you’ve chosen not to vaccinate your child against whooping cough, I would be concerned,” Dr. Thomas Russo, a professor and chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo in New York, tells Yahoo Life.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, agrees. “This has been a national trend for some time and some years have had close to 50,000 cases reported,” he tells Yahoo Life. “The rise is due to lower immunization rates in children and in adults who may not have received a booster vaccine dose in some time whose initial immunity has waned.”
Whooping cough cases tend to increase every three to five years, Russo says, and being vaccinated against the illness isn’t a guarantee that you won’t get it if it’s circulating in your area. “The vaccine isn’t absolutely protective against infection, but it’s pretty good at protecting against severe disease,” Russo says. “Those who are unvaccinated are at risk for more severe outcomes.”
What can I do about it?
Russo recommends that parents check with their child’s pediatrician to make sure their child has been vaccinated against whooping cough, which is part of the recommended childhood vaccines. If not, he says, “it’s important to catch them up.”
Children are not eligible for the DTaP vaccine until they’re 2 months old, Adalja points out, which is why it’s important for adults who will be around a newborn to be fully vaccinated against the illness. The Tdap vaccine is recommended for pregnant women between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy to help protect newborns — and that’s important too, Adalja says. “During the third trimester of pregnancy, ensure that the mother gets a booster vaccine dose,” he says.
Whooping cough is spread by infected droplets, so Russo says that “hand hygiene is important.” And if whooping cough happens to infect someone in your household, preventive antibiotics are recommended, he says.
The main takeaway
Whooping cough is a preventable illness, but it’s making a comeback. Doctors say that anti-vaccine sentiments are largely to blame. “If our vaccine coverage is down, that is going to encourage whooping cough,” Russo says.
Adalja urges parents to take prevention measures against whooping cough seriously. “It can be a serious and sometime fatal illness in infants,” he says. “In adults, coughing can be so violent that ribs are broken. This is why the vaccine is so critical.”
