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Healthcare experts are sounding the alarm on a major increase in whooping cough cases as nationwide numbers have tripled compared to last year.
As of early August, Fairfax County, Virginia was seeing four times the number of cases compared to the average from the previous five years.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is an illness caused by bacteria spread from person to person through the air.
“It’s spread through respiratory droplets, explained Dr. Mona Gahunia, an Infectious Disease Physician with Kaiser Permanente. “It’s characterized by inspiratory whoop. So when you start to breathe or you’re about to cough, you hear that whooping sound before the cough usually, and it’s characterized by coughing fits.”
Sometimes those fits can be so severe, that it may cause you to want to vomit.
“You can have symptoms similar to other respiratory illnesses, maybe a low-grade fever, just generally feeling unwell,” said Dr. Gahunia.
Other symptoms include a runny or stuffed-up nose. Health experts say, babies, may not have a cough at all but instead gasp for air or experience apnea, pauses in breathing, which is life-threatening.
In Maryland, there are almost 12 times as many cases compared to this time last year. In 2024 so far, the ages of cases range from four weeks to 78 years.
Dr. Gahunia said this increase is somewhat expected.
“What tends to happen with whooping cough is that every three to five years, you do see spikes,” she explained. With the pandemic, we were at really low levels because people were masking and isolating and were really good with their hand hygiene it’s not really surprising that we’re seeing a spike, but the other factor might be that people haven’t updated themselves on their boosters and their vaccines.
For adults, the pertussis vaccine is built into the tetanus booster.
“You just have to keep up with your tetanus booster,” said Dr. Gahunia. That’s the Tdap vaccine. And so, it’s every seven to 10 years, maybe sooner if you had a dirty wound.” It’s also part of the general pediatric immunization schedule. “So all kids who are staying up to date on their vaccines should be vaccinated.
Dr. Gahunia urges pregnant women to seek out the vaccine as well.
“Anybody who’s around infants, it’s really important that they stay up to date on the vaccine, because this disease is most dangerous for children under one,” said Dr. Gahunia.
That’s because babies haven’t fully developed their respiratory illness so are at higher risk for complications.
“Pneumonia is actually the simplest example of a complication, which can just lead to respiratory distress and trouble with breathing and that requires hospitalization,” says Dr. Gahunia.
Testing is available. If you have a cough that isn’t going away or you’re having severe coughing fits, you should seek medical attention.