Whooping Cough Cases Double In Alameda County In 2018

ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA — The number of cases of whooping cough in Alameda C0unty has more than doubled during the first four months of 2018, compared with the same period in 2017, according to the Alameda County Health Department. In January through April of this year, 87 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough were confirmed, compared to 35 cases in 2017.

Sherri Willis, Public Information Officer for the Health Department, declined to name the cities where the cases were reported, but confirms that most of the cases involved high school-aged students. While she could not give a specific reason for the spike, she emphasized the importance of immunizations.

Pertussis is covered in the DPT shot, given to babies at age 2 months, 4 months, 6 months and 12 months. Booster shots are given again before kindergarten and middle school. Willis told Patch that the Health Department is working with schools in the county to make sure that students are immunized.

Back in 2010, a statewide outbreak of whooping cough killed 10 people, and required more than 800 hospitalizations in the 9,000 people who caught the disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. It was the largest outbreak of the disease reported in California in 60 years.

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Early Symptoms

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whooping cough usually starts with cold-like symptoms and possibly a mild cough or fever. In babies, the cough can be minimal or not even there. Babies may have a symptom known as “apnea.” Apnea is a pause in the child’s breathing pattern. Pertussis is most dangerous for babies. About half of babies younger than 12 months who get the disease need to be hospitalized.

Early symptoms can last for one to two weeks and usually include:

• Runny nose
• Low-grade fever (generally minimal throughout the course of the disease)
• Mild, occasional cough
• Apnea – a pause in breathing (in babies)

Pertussis in its early stages appears to be nothing more than the common cold. Therefore, healthcare professionals often do not suspect or diagnose it until the more severe symptoms appear.

Later-stage Symptoms

After one to two weeks and as the disease progresses, the traditional symptoms of pertussis may appear and include:

• Paroxysms (fits) of many rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched “whoop” sound
• Vomiting (throwing up) during or after coughing fits
• Exhaustion (very tired) after coughing fits

Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from your lungs. When there is no more air in the lungs, you are forced to inhale with a loud “whooping” sound. This extreme coughing can cause you to throw up and be very tired. Although you are often exhausted after a coughing fit, you usually appear fairly well in-between. Coughing fits generally become more common and bad as the illness continues, and can occur more often at night. The coughing fits can go on for up to 10 weeks or more. In China, pertussis is known as the “100 day cough.”

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The California Health Department is expected to release whooping cough numbers in the near future, according to Willis. She knows from talking with colleagues that some nearby counties are also seeing spikes in pertussis cases, while others are seeing flat numbers or declines.

More information about the 2010 whooping cough outbreak

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