Whooping cough cases up in England
The UK Health Security (UKHSA) is reporting a rising trend in whooping cough, or pertussis cases in England during the first quarter of the year.
Provisionally, 556 cases were laboratory-confirmed in January, 918 cases in February and 1,319 cases in March 2024.
Of the 2,793 cases confirmed between the first quarter of 2024, around half (1,420 cases, 50.8%) were in those aged 15 years or older and 28.6% were in children aged between 10 and 14 years (799 cases).
There have been 5 reported deaths in infants who developed pertussis in the first quarter of 2024.
There were 108 infants aged under 3 months with confirmed pertussis between January and March 2024.
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Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, Consultant Epidemiologist at UK Health Security Agency, said:
Vaccination remains the best defense against whooping cough and it is vital that pregnant women and young infants receive their vaccines at the right time.
Pregnant women are offered a whooping cough vaccine in every pregnancy, ideally between 20 and 32 weeks. This passes protection to their baby in the womb so that they are protected from birth in the first months of their life when they are most vulnerable and before they can receive their own vaccines.
All babies are given three doses of the 6 in 1 jab at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age to protect against whooping cough and other serious diseases such as diphtheria and polio with a pre-school booster offered at 3 years 4 months.
Whooping cough, clinically known as pertussis, is a bacterial infection which affects the lungs. The first signs of infection are similar to a cold, such as a runny nose and sore throat, but after about a week, the infection can develop into coughing bouts that last for a few minutes and are typically worse at night. Young babies may also make a distinctive ‘whoop’ or have difficulty breathing after a bout of coughing, though not all babies make this noise which means whooping cough can be hard to recognise.
If anyone in your family is diagnosed with whooping cough, it’s important they stay at home and do not go into work, school or nursery until 48 hours after starting antibiotics, or 3 weeks after symptoms start if they have not had antibiotics. This helps to prevent the spread of infection, especially to vulnerable groups, including infants. However, vaccination remains the best protection for babies and children.