Whooping Cough Confirmed at Merrimack Schools

Merrimack School Superintendent Marge Chiafery confirmed Thursday night that two of the town's schools have multiple confirmed cases of pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough.

Chiafery said the cases are “by no means an epidemic” but there are at least six cases of pertussis each at and

She said there are five or six additional suspected cases of the illness at each school, but she said there is not cause for alarm.

With more than 500 students at Reeds Ferry and more than 600 at the middle school, half a dozen to a dozen cases a piece is a relatively small population of the the student bodies. There is also a case each a J and

Chiafery said New Hampshire's Division of Public Health has been involved at the two schools with multiple cases, tracking the disease. Whooping cough is classified as being highly contagious. Letters have been sent out to the families of students of both schools.

She said the district has been following the recommendations of the Public Health Nurse Coordinators working with the two affected schools, which includes a recommendation to only send school-wide letters to families at those two schools.

“We don't want to amplify or get persons worried about something they don't need to worry about,” Chiafery said of why letters have not been sent to the whole district.

Originally, letters were sent only to the parents who have children in class with children who have been diagnosed, but as the illness was tracked and it spread, letters were issued to a wider net of people.

Chiafery said the first case developed in mid- to late-October. She said each of the two schools has its own nurse coordinator overseeing the cases and working directly with the school nurses to manage the disease.

“They've been very helpful,” Chiafery said. "Thank heavens we have this resource."

Chiafery said in her 11 years as superintendent, she doesn't remember a case of whooping cough like this, though it is not the first time in her 23 years in the district.

The last time she worked directly with the state's Department of Infectious Disease in regard to H1N1 a couple years ago, when she and several students had been on a school trip to China.

Chiafery said there is no cause for alarm and the schools and the public health nurse coordinators will continue to monitor the cases and provide updates to parents of students at the schools as is necessary.

A PDF of a fact sheet from the Department of Health and Human Services is attached.