NPR – Whooping cough is spreading nationwide at the highest levels since 2014.
There have been more than 16,000 cases this year — more than four times as many compared to the same time last year — and two confirmed deaths.
And experts are concerned that the outbreak could worsen in the fall and winter months.
“More children are going back to school now, [which leads to] greater exposure,” said Dr. Eric Chow, the chief of epidemiology and immunization at the Seattle and King County public health agency.
“We’re coming up on the kind of winter season when people are spending more time indoors with other people.”
“There still is a lot of vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaxers out there that will not vaccinate their kids.” – Dr. Tina Tan, Infectious Disease Society of America
The disease is most dangerous to babies: 1 in 3 who get it require hospitalization.
Whooping cough cases are especially high right now on the West Coast.
King County, where Seattle is, has seen more this year than any year since 2015 — “and the year isn’t even over yet,” Chow said. He said the county is still seeing new cases of whooping cough every week.
Why the big outbreak now?
Experts say there are a number of possible explanations for the size of the current outbreak.
Doctors are testing for whooping cough more, so they’re identifying more cases.
It’s possible that the bacterium that causes the disease has mutated.
Also, people got behind on their vaccines during the pandemic, and they haven’t caught up.
