3 PA School Districts Deal With Recent Potential Outbreak Of 'Very Serious Respiratory Infection'

Three school districts in Pennsylvania are on alert as cases of pertussis, a very serious respiratory infection also known as whooping cough, have begun to increase.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District announced that students may have been exposed to the infection between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2. There has already been one confirmed case at Valley Forge Middle School. Meanwhile, the Chambersburg and Shippensburg school districts saw an outbreak of 29 cases in November, NBC 10 reported.

The infection begins with cold-like symptoms, progresses to a serious cough, turns into a coughing fit and can eventually cause victims to turn blue and suffer violent vomiting. According to the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, vaccination does defend against the infection, but even fully vaccinated adults and children are susceptible to it because the vaccine's effectiveness diminishes over time.

York and Delaware counties have also seen considerable increases in pertussis cases in 2016.

>>Tredyffrin/Easttown Students Possibly Exposed To Pertussis

The infection can live in the body for up to 21 days before coughing begins, according to the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District.

Officials urge parents to bring children to their physician if they have a cough and to inform the physician that the child may have been exposed to pertussis.

All teens and adults should get a Tdap booster shot. Children should be vaccinated with the DTaP vaccine at ages 2, 4, 6 and between 12 and 15 months, in addition to receiving the Tdap booster between ages 4 and 6, according to the Academy.

The essential DTaP and Tdap vaccines are available to health care centers and local doctor's offices. In Chester County, qualified individuals may receive free vaccination. See here for more information.

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