Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced cases of whooping cough have more than quadrupled nationally in the last year.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis.
According to health experts like Dr. Steven Eshenaur, executive director and health officer at the Kanawha Charleston Health Department, the five-shot series of the Pertussis vaccine is the best way to prevent illness.
“It is very important to prevent whooping cough that you get your child immunizations by making an appointment as quickly as possible with your pediatrician or local health department,” Eshenaur said.
Experts attribute the 2024 surge in cases to a dip in vaccination rates that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The whooping cough series is a total of five shots given over the first four to six years of life,” Eshenaur explained. “During COVID-19, many parents missed routine follow-up appointments with their pediatrician and may not have received the routine childhood immunizations for their children. So many children are behind in the series and thus susceptible because they are under-immunized to prevent the disease.”
Before the pandemic, the U.S. saw more than 10,000 cases of whooping cough annually. In this year’s provisional CDC data, that number has risen to 14,599 cases.
The CDC reports West Virginia’s cumulative year-to-date count for 2024 is 21 cases of whooping cough, up from 17 cases in 2023.
It takes about 10 days from the time of infection for symptoms of whooping cough to appear. Symptoms are usually mild at first and commonly mistaken for the common cold.
Initial symptoms include runny nose, nasal congestion, red, watery eyes, fever and cough. Unlike the common cold, after a week or two, symptoms become more severe because thick mucus accumulates in the airways, causing uncontrollable coughing that may end with a high-pitched “whoop” sound, giving the illness its name.
However, some people do not develop the “whoop” but suffer from a persistent hacking cough that might be the only indication an adolescent or adult has whooping cough.
According to the Mayo Clinic, infants who contract whooping cough may not cough at all but struggle to breathe or even temporarily stop breathing.
Deaths associated with whooping cough are rare but most common for infants who contract the illness.
“Pertussis is highly contagious and can cause hospitalization in some children, those children that have respiratory disease are at particular risk of a potential admission due to the severity of the disease,” Eshenaur said. “This is not a mild illness, and we strongly recommend that parents get immunized as quickly as possible, or get their children immunized as quickly as possible to prevent the disease.”
Health experts now recommend pregnant people receive the pertussis vaccine between 27 and 36 weeks of gestation. This may also give some protection to the infant during the first few months of life.
Side effects of the vaccine are usually mild and may include fever, crankiness, headache, fatigue or soreness at the site of the injection.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.