WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Health officials are seeing an increase in cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Acting Director of the Allegheny County Health Department Dr. Barbara Nightingale told KDKA-TV, 'We're seeing almost 10 times the cases in 2024 already compared to the past couple of years.'
So far, the county has registered upto 87 cases in 2024, whereas nationwide 4,864 cases were reported, CBS News reports.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 601 whooping cough cases were reported in Pennsylvania this year as of May 25, compared to 108 cases reported around the same period last year.
'A lot of the cases that we're seeing now are due to some of the changes with the prevention we took during COVID, similar to other respiratory viruses. We saw this really drop off of all respiratory in the pandemic, and those have started all to creep back,' Dr. Nightingale said.
Whooping cough is transmitted when the respiratory droplets from an infected person's cough or sneeze are caught by a healthy person. Then, the bacteria attach themselves to the throat lining and produce toxins, causing inflammation in airways, coughing fits, and breathing problems.
The usual symptoms of whooping cough are runny nose, fever, vomiting, and exhaustion after uncontrollable and sudden coughing spells. Several adults experience complications like broken ribs from coughing, loss of bladder control, and fainting.
'The disease itself can be very severe. It can lead to people being hospitalized, and you can even die from it. Also, it's very treatable with antibiotics, and we have vaccines that also can prevent people from getting it in the first place,' Dr. Nightingale said.
The health officials are urging people to get vaccinated against the disease.
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