Whooping cough is spreading across the country at the highest level since 2014. More than 16,000 people have been infected this year, more than four times the number from the same period last year, and two people have died. And experts fear the outbreak could get worse in the fall and winter.
“More kids are going back to school now, which is leading to more spread,” said Dr. Eric Chow, director of epidemiology and immunization at the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health. “We are approaching the winter season where people are spending more time indoors with others.”
The disease is most dangerous to infants, with 1 in 3 requiring hospitalization.
Pertussis cases are currently on the rise, especially on the West Coast.
King County, where Seattle is located, has seen more cases this year than any year since 2015, but “the year is not over yet,” Chou said. The county is still seeing new cases of whooping cough each week, he said.
Why is it so popular now?
Experts say there are many possible explanations for the scale of the current outbreak.
Doctors are increasing testing for whooping cough and identifying more cases.
The bacteria that causes the disease may have mutated.
It has also slowed in vaccinating people during the pandemic and has not been able to catch up.
“One of the challenges we have with[the vaccine to prevent whooping cough]is that it is given in a five-dose series over the first six years of life, so it requires regular primary care visits.” ” said Chow.
And not everyone can go to the doctor regularly, Chow said.
But access is not the only issue.
Dr. Tina Tan, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Northwestern University and president-elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said, “There are still many people who are hesitant about vaccines and anti-vaxxers who won’t vaccinate their children.” said.
Whooping cough looks like a mild cold for the first few weeks, but then coughing attacks begin.
Infected babies “will wheeze when they cough,” Tan said. “Then they’ll cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, and then sometimes it doesn’t seem like they’re breathing at all.”
Mr Tan said such cessation of breathing is life-threatening and a sign that it is time to go to hospital.
Whooping cough can also cause pneumonia and other complications.
However, infants cannot receive their first vaccination to prevent whooping cough (also known as whooping cough) until they are 2 months old.
“That’s why it’s important for pregnant women to receive the pertussis vaccine during pregnancy, so they can protect their babies for the first two months of their lives until they’re old enough to vaccinate themselves,” Tan said. Ta.
Even before the pandemic, only about half of pregnant women received the pertussis vaccine. Now, that number is even lower.
In King County, of the 12 infants diagnosed with pertussis this year, the mothers were not vaccinated during pregnancy.
