California Declares Whooping Cough Epidemic

More than 800 cases of whooping cough have been reported in the past two weeks in California. The State's health department said that California is facing a whooping cough or pertussis epidemic.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease. Its symptoms initially resemble that of common cold, but the disease can become dangerous, especially in children.

Between January and June 2014, California witnessed around 3,458 cases of pertussis, which is significantly higher than the number of cases reported in 2013. Whooping cough season peaks every 3-4 years. The state had seen a spike in pertussis cases in 2010 and so, the current increase in whooping cough cases is hinting at another pertussis peak season.

Symptoms of pertussis include cough and runny nose for one or two weeks. As the disease progresses, the child has severe coughs that end with a "whooping" sound. Some children might not display usual symptoms. Adults with the disease often cough for several weeks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccination is the best way to prevent the disease. The vaccine - DtaP - is given during childhood followed by booster shots in teenage years.

"Preventing severe disease and death in infants is our highest priority," said Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and state health officer. "We urge all pregnant women to get vaccinated. We also urge parents to vaccinate infants as soon as possible."

CDPH said that all pregnant women must get the DTaP vaccine in the third trimester, regardless of previous Tdap vaccination. Also, children can receive the vaccine as early as six weeks of age.

"Unlike some other vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles, neither vaccination nor illness from pertussis offers lifetime immunity," said Dr. Ron Chapman in a news release. "However, vaccination is still the best defense against this potentially fatal disease."

Across the U.S., there have been 9,964 cases of whooping cough so far. The numbers were around 7,573 at the same time last year, Bloomberg cited a CDC official as saying. As of June 8, three people died due to whooping cough in the U.S.

"Our biggest concern is always infants," said Stacey Martin, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of bacterial diseases, to Bloomberg. "There's a gap in coverage between birth and the first vaccine."