Whooping cough cases rising in this Kansas City-area county. Here’s how to stay safe
Health officials in Wyandotte County on Tuesday warned that cases of pertussis — also known as whooping cough — are on the rise there, especially among school-age children.
“So far for 2019 we’ve seen more cases of pertussis than we’ve seen in the last five or six years,” said Elizabeth Groenweghe, chief epidemiologist for the Unified Government Public Health Department. “Usually we see about 15 to 20 cases reported to us each year, and we’ve seen significantly more than that kind of average so far for 2019.”
State health officials say Wyandotte is among a handful of counties across Kansas reporting an outbreak of the disease.
The bacterial infection is very contagious. Anyone can get it, though it is especially dangerous to young babies. About half of babies younger than 1 who get it require hospitalization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Groenweghe urged residents to see a doctor or health care provider if they think they, or their child, have pertussis.
As of Nov. 30, 124 cases had been reported in Kansas — 28 of them in Wyandotte County and 18 in Johnson County, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Health officials in Johnson County said they have not seen higher-than-normal numbers.
“For 2019, a handful of pertussis outbreaks have been reported in Kansas, including Wyandotte County, however, these outbreaks appear to be isolated to specific settings … schools, day cares,” the state health department’s spokeswoman, Kristi A. Pankratz, said by email. “Pertussis is cyclic in nature, with peaks in disease occurring every three to five years.”
The most recent national outbreak reported by the CDC was in 2012, with more than 48,277 cases, the CDC said.
“During pertussis outbreaks, the primary goal is to protect babies from getting sick and dying from pertussis. A second goal is to protect people of all other ages from getting pertussis,” the federal health agency says.
In Wyandotte County, “we’re mostly seeing our school-age children, especially the preteen and teenage group. That’s kind of where we’re seeing the cases these last couple of months,” Groenweghe said.
“Pertussis is usually most severe in babies and infants, and we really worry about when babies and infants get pertussis. But it can still be severe in our school-age and teenage children as well.
“And the thing that we are concerned about, if a teenager has pertussis, is the possibility of them spreading it to younger babies that might live in the house, or relatives.”
The illness begins with symptoms that mimic a cold — a runny nose, low-grade fever and mild cough. After a couple of weeks it can explode into a cough so violent it can lead to vomiting and can linger for weeks, even months. “In China, pertussis is known as the ‘100 day cough,’” says the CDC.
It gets its name from the loud “whooping” sound you make while struggling to inhale during a coughing fit.
“People with pertussis usually spread the disease to another person by coughing or sneezing or when spending a lot of time near one another where you share breathing space,” the CDC says. “Many babies who get pertussis are infected by older siblings, parents, or caregivers who might not even know they have the disease.”
Pertussis cases typically increase in the colder winter months because people spend more time indoors, Groenweghe said. “So that’s kind of why we want to get the word out … because we’re seeing a bit more of an uptick of pertussis than we usually do coming into winter and we just want to make sure that people are aware of that.”
She said that when babies get pertussis “it’s very severe, it’s very alarming. But sometimes when an adult gets pertussis they think, ‘Oh it’s just a cough and it will go away, it’s not that bad.’ And then they might be unknowingly spreading pertussis in the community because they don’t realize” they have it.
While pertussis vaccines are the most effective prevention, “no vaccine is 100% effective,” the CDC says on its website. “When pertussis circulates in the community, there is a chance that a fully vaccinated person, of any age, can catch this disease. If you have gotten the pertussis vaccine but still get sick, the infection is usually not as bad.”
The CDC has a recommended pertussis vaccination schedule for children and adults posted on its website.
Infected people are most contagious up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins, and antibiotics — the most common treatment — might shorten the amount of time someone is contagious, according to the CDC.
If you are diagnosed with pertussis, “stay home,” Groenweghe said.
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