California is on pace to suffer the most illness and death due to pertussis, or “whooping cough,” in 50 years, Public Health Director Mark Horton said Wednesday.
“Whooping cough is now an epidemic in California,” Horton said in a statement released by the department of Public Health. “Children should be vaccinated against the disease, and parents, family members and caregivers of infants need a booster shot.”
The state had recorded 910 cases as of June 15, more than four times as many as the same period last year, when 219 cases were recorded. Five infants — all under three months of age — have died from the disease this year. Local health departments are investigating another 600 possible cases.
Since 1998, more than 80 percent of the infants in California who have died from pertussis have been Hispanic.
Pertussis vaccination begins at two months of age, but young infants are not adequately protected until the initial series of three shots is complete at 6 months of age. The series of shots that most children receive wears off by the time they finish middle school. Neither vaccination nor illness from pertussis provides lifetime immunity.
Pregnant women may be vaccinated against pertussis before pregnancy, during pregnancy or after giving birth, the department said. Fathers may be vaccinated at any time, but preferably before the birth of their baby.
Others who may have contact with infants, including family members, healthcare workers, and childcare workers, should also be vaccinated, according to the department.
Pertussis in children and adults typically begins with a cough and runny nose for one-to-two weeks, followed by weeks to months of rapid coughing fits that sometimes end with a whooping sound. Fever is rare.
