A wave of Whooping cough infections The situation continues to deteriorate nationwide, as data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows. The number of weekly reported cases is currently rising to the highest level in the US in years.
According to the CDC’s latest count, at least 259 cases of whooping cough were reported in the first week of August; by the end of June, there were 215 weekly cases.
Pennsylvania has reported 1,489 cases so far this year, more than any other state. new York reported the next highest number of cases with 1,266 infections.
The increase comes as CDC officials have warned for months of a return to pre-pandemic trends. Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, whose numbers had fallen to record lows during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely because more people were wearing masks and not going to school or the office at the time.
So far this year, a total of more than 10,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported by health authorities. By mid-June, the total number of cases this year was more than three times higher than the same time last year.
In addition, the number of reported cases this year is higher than immediately before the pandemic, when around 8,000 cases were reported in early August 2019.
Why are whooping cough cases increasing?
For many diseases that are transmitted from person to person through the air, such as whooping cough, the infection rate has declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is likely that containment measures taken during the pandemic (e.g., mask wearing and distance learning) have reduced the transmission of pertussis,” the CDC said in July.
This reversed signs that pertussis rates were beginning to rise again after declining from a previous peak in 2012.
“The increase in pertussis cases that we observed continued until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After that, we saw a dramatic decline in reported pertussis cases that was similar to trends for other nationally notifiable diseases,” said Tami Skoff, an epidemiologist at the CDC, at a National Foundation for Infectious Diseases event in April.
Several factors were responsible for the gradual increase in whooping cough cases before the pandemic, said Skoff, including better diagnosis and reporting rates of infections.
Another reason could be due to the switch to a safer type of vaccine in the 1990s, the so-called “acellular” vaccines, whose protection decreases over time.
“We believe that one of the driving factors and one of the biggest contributors is the waning protection from acellular pertussis vaccines,” Skoff said.
Skoff said CDC vaccine experts currently have no plans to revisit the issue of whooping cough vaccines after deciding against booster recommendations for peaks in 2012. But new vaccines could prompt changes to the agency’s guidance, she said.
“Vaccines are being developed. Hopefully, in the next few years we will have vaccines with longer duration of protection available,” she said.
What are the symptoms of whooping cough?
Doctors usually divide whooping cough into at least three stages. The first symptoms begin with a cold, such as cough and runny nose. Symptoms usually appear about a week after the patient first comes into contact with another infectious person.
The cough worsens for up to six more weeks and often takes on the characteristic “whooping” sound that occurs when patients have difficulty breathing after rapid coughing fits in an attempt to expel mucus accumulated in the body’s airways.
This can cause the skin to turn blue or purple due to the lack of oxygen in the body, followed by vomiting.
Symptoms may vary depending on the patient’s age. Infants are most at risk of severe whooping cough and are most likely to require hospitalization.
While vaccines and better treatments in the early 20th century prevented thousands of childhood deaths caused by whooping cough each year, severe cases, especially in infants, can lead to complications such as pneumonia and neurological problems.
How is whooping cough treated?
Antibiotics can be effective in reducing the severity of whooping cough, especially when used early during an infection, the CDC says. They can also be given to at-risk close contacts of whooping cough cases to prevent them from getting sick.
Doctors can test patients with symptoms by inserting a swab deep into the nose. These tests are most accurate when done within the first three weeks of coughing, the CDC says.
“With waning immunity, we’re seeing more and more older people, and often I hear from clinicians that we don’t think about whooping cough in older people, or that they don’t come to the doctor until much later when some of the diagnostic tests aren’t accurate,” Skoff said.
Tests are not always necessary to start treating patients with antibiotics, especially if there is a risk of severe disease. People with whooping cough may be given antibiotics such as azithromycin to treat the infection for up to five days, although this is not a guarantee that symptoms will subside any faster.
“Antibiotics are intended to prevent the transmission of whooping cough to others and do not shorten the course of the disease or relieve symptoms,” doctors explained in an article in the American Academy of Family Physicians, citing an evaluation of 13 studies.
