A baby in California has died from whooping cough – the first such death in the state this year.
The Department of Public Health said the child was from Orange County, but did not reveal any details about the baby’s age or sex, or when the death occurred.
Officials say this is the first infant death related to whooping cough in Orange County since 2007, and the first death in the state since July 2018.
‘We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and send our condolences to the family,’ Dr Nichole Quick, interim county health officer, said in a news release.
A baby in Orange Country, California, has died of whooping cough – the first in the county in more than a decade (file image)
The Orange County Health Care Agency said that in 2018, 171 cases of whooping cough were reported, eight of which were among infants under three months old.
Seven of those eight infants had to be hospitalized.
Usually, whooping cough is reported in singular cases. However, several California counties reported school-wide outbreaks this year.
The Los Angeles Times reported that nearly 50 students at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School fell ill with whooping cough, part of a larger outbreak in the LA-area.
And, just 100 miles south, officials in San Diego County have confirmed at least 70 cases of pertussis, according to KGTV.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a respiratory tract infection that is highly contagious.
When someone coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets are sprayed into the air, where other people can inhale them and are then infected.
In serious cases, sufferers experience bouts of coughing that end with a ‘whoop’ sound when a breath is taken.
The first symptoms usually resemble those of a cold or flu including coughing, runny nose and a fever.
However, after one to two weeks, sufferers experience severe coughing fits due to mucus blocking the airways, which can last up to 100 days.
The best protection against whooping cough comes from the DTaP vaccine, which also protects against diphtheria and tetanus.
It is given as a series at two months, four months, six months, 15 to 18 months, and then four to six years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children between ages 11 and 12 receive a booster with a similar vaccine called Tdap.
In California, health officials are suggesting pregnant women receive a booster of the pertussis vaccine to protect their infants until they are old enough to be immunized.
‘The best way to prevent pertussis is to be up-to-date on vaccinations’ said Dr Quick in the news release.
‘Pregnant women during each pregnancy, regardless of when their previous pregnancy occurred, are strongly recommended to receive Tdap vaccine during their third trimester.’
Prior to the vaccine’s introduction in the 1940s, about 200,000 children contracted whooping cough every year with about 90,000 dying.
According to the CDC’s latest figures, nearly 13,500 cases were reported in 2018 with about 10 deaths.
But, even after a child receives all five doses, the DTaP and Tdap vaccines are between 80 and 90 percent effective, lower than the rates for other vaccine-preventable diseases.
This is why the concept of ‘herd immunity’ is so important when it comes to preventing the spread of whooping cough.
Herd immunity occurs when the vast majority of a community – between 80 and 95 percent – becomes immune so that, if a disease is introduced, it is unable to spread.
Therefore, those who are unable to be vaccinated, including the ill, very young and very old, are protected.