Rampant Spread of Whooping Cough Prompts School Closure

With 10 confirmed, another 83 probable and several more suspected cases of whooping cough, a Michigan school district has closed for the remainder of the week.

The Grand Traverse Academy said it has established a hotline at (231) 995-6800 for families to obtain prescriptions for prophylactic antibiotics and to answer questions about the outbreak of pertussis in the K-12 school district of 1,000 students.

The outbreak at the Michigan school follows national trends pointing to a resurgence of an illness that was all but forgotten after vaccines were developed in the 1940s.

In California, public health department declared pertussis had reached “epidemic proportions” after 3,458 cases were reported in the first six months of the year, including 800 in a two-week period, CNN reported. Health officials said the actual number of whooping cough cases may have been higher, because past studies have shown that for every case that is reported, another 10 go unreported.

By mid-August, all 50 states and Washington, DC, had reported incidences of whooping cough to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which put the actual count at 17,325 cases. That’s a 30 percent increase over the same time period in 2013.

Back in Michigan, the Grand Traverse Health Department is recommending that all students and staff begin an antibiotic regimen to slow the spread of the illness, county health officer Wendy Trute told The Grand Rapids Index/MLive. Trute said the district’s goal is to stop the illness before it spreads, but because the school district’s students come from different geographic areas, containing it may difficult, she conceded.

The CDC says the best way to protect against the illness is with a diptheria-tetanus-pertussis shot (also called the DTaP shot). Doctors recommend that all children get the vaccine to control whooping cough, which had been all but eradicated until the anti-vaccine movement began picking up steam.

Trute said the district’s goal is to stop the illness before it spreads, but because the school district’s students come from different geographic areas, containing it may difficult, she conceded.

Alan Hinman a scientist who sits on the scientific advisory board of Voices for Vaccines, told USA Today the choice not to vaccinate children is a dangerous one.

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Scientists have debunked the notion that vaccines cause autism, but some parents continue to push back, the newspaper said. Celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, Aiden Quinn and Kristin Cavallari have fueled the anti-vaccine movement. Cavalleri, a reality TV star, said not vaccinating was “the best decision” she could make for her children.

In some cases, parents cite religious objections to vaccinating their children.

In Michigan, about 5.3 percent of parents don’t vaccinate their children, The Lansing State Journal reports, citing figures from the CDC.

Fewer than 72 percent of Michigan’s 2-year-old children were up to date on their recommended vaccines as of 2011, the latest year for which statistic are available, according to the Lansing State Journal report.

Symptoms of Whooping Cough

Whooping cough is caused by bacteria and spreads quickly if not controlled. According to information from the Mayo Clinic, when an infected person coughs or sneezes, tiny germ-laden droplets are sprayed into the air and breathed into the lungs of anyone who happens to be nearby.

Symptoms, usually mild at first and resembling those of the common cold, may not appear for up to three weeks. Early symptoms – runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, red and watery eyes, mild fever and dry cough – may worsen after a week or two.

In the advanced stages, thick mucus in the airways cause uncontrollable coughing attacks that may provoke vomiting, result in a red or blue face, cause extreme fatigue, and end with a high-pitched “whoop” sound during the next breath of air.

Mayo said those suffering from the illness may not develop a characteristic whoop, but may have a hacking cough.

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Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention