Alarming whooping cough outbreak ‘very concerning’ for children in northwestern US state
Idaho health officials have warned of a sharp increase in cases of a highly contagious Victorian-era disease.
Two public health organizations have teamed up to warn residents of the Gem State that the number of cases of whooping cough, commonly known as pertussis, is 17 times higher this year than last year.
So far, 171 cases have been reported, most of them in children, who are particularly susceptible to the disease.
It can cause severe coughing fits for months, as well as fever, difficulty breathing and congestion.
This disease, which was common in the 1900s, was previously controlled by vaccination. However, Idaho is the state in the US with the lowest number of recommended vaccinations in recent years.
Whooping cough spreads from person to person via airborne droplets from coughing or sneezing. Once in the body, the bacteria multiply and release toxins into the respiratory tract, causing tissues to swell, leading to the cough that is characteristic of the condition.
Lekshmi Venugopal, an epidemiologist with Southwest District Health in Idaho, said, “We are very concerned about the significant increase in whooping cough cases in southwest Idaho this year.”
In all of 2023, there were only 10 cases in the state, representing a 1,600 percent increase in cases, the Idaho Statesman reported.
So far, 117 cases have been reported in Ada County in the southwestern part of the state, which is also home to the capital, Boise.
Canyon County, immediately west of Ada, reported 49 cases.
About 67 percent of these cases occurred in people under 19 years of age.
‘Whooping cough, although it starts like a common cold, can lead to long-term illness and serious complications, especially in infants and people with existing health problems,’ said Dr. Venugopal.
Whooping cough is a bacterial infectious disease that is transmitted from person to person through the air via droplets in the respiratory tract.
Symptoms appear about a week after the initial infection, after the bacteria attach to tiny hairs in the throat and nose and begin releasing toxins that cause the airways to swell, According to the CDC.
At first, this causes a runny or stuffy nose, a mild fever and a mild cough. However, this can progress to violent coughing fits that lead to vomiting, exhaustion and difficulty breathing.
“People who experience these coughing fits say it is the worst cough of their lives,” the CDC website reads.
About one percent of babies infected with the bacteria die.
The disease is preventable – by vaccination – and treatable – by antibiotics.
However, Idaho consistently ranks near the bottom of the United States when it comes to childhood vaccinations.
In the 2022-2023 school year, about 81 percent of Idaho’s kindergartners met federal public school vaccination requirements. That’s the lowest rate in the nation, where the average rate is 93 percent.
The map above shows the state-by-state percentages of vaccination exemptions for the 2022-2023 school year, highlighting the five states with the highest percentages of exemptions for all mandatory school vaccinations.
The state also has the highest percentage of preschoolers requesting vaccine exemptions, at about 12 percent, compared to the national average of 3 percent.
Public health officials consistently promote vaccination, which they say dramatically reduces whooping cough rates. These shots protect about 98 percent of children in the year since their last dose, According to the CDC.
In the 1900s, whooping cough was one of the most common childhood diseases. Before vaccination became widely available in the 1940s, the number of cases was decreased by more than 90 percent.
US health authorities recommend that everyone receive two series of vaccinations to protect against the disease: one series of DTaP vaccinations as an infant and one series of Tdap vaccinations around age 11.