When six cases of pertussis, commonly called “whooping cough,” were reported in Cook County recently, it was a big deal, claiming a front-page spot in the News-Herald and significant coverage on WTIP. There was good reason for that: While pertussis can bring prolonged discomfort to adults, it can be very serious for infants, who are not yet immunized. And adults who contract the highly contagious disease can pass it on before they know they even have it.

The good news is that chances of contracting the disease or passing it on can be minimized if everyone is vaccinated against it and gets a booster to that vaccine at the proper interval. Almost everyone in the United States gets vaccinated against pertussis when they are children, but that protection begins to wear off in 5 to 10 years. For children and adults ages 11-64, a pertussis booster is recommended. It comes packaged with a booster for tetanus and diptheria in a vaccine called Tdap.

In January 2011, the Centers for Disease Control reported, “Despite sustained high coverage for childhood pertussis vaccination, pertussis remains poorly controlled in the United States. A total of 16,858 pertussis cases and 12 infant deaths were reported in 2009.... Although 2005 recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) called for vaccination with … Tdap for adolescents and adults to improve immunity against pertussis, Tdap coverage is 56 percent among adolescents and (less than) 6 percent among adults.”

That's why this latest outbreak of pertussis in Cook County caused the Department of Public Health and Human Services to recommend that, “Parents of children 11 years and older, and adults (especially those with infants less than 12 months of age in their home) should talk to their healthcare provider about Tdap.”

Part of the problem with pertussis, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is that it is infectious in its early stages, when symptoms are mild and much like any other cold. Once diagnosed, antibiotics can quickly curtail infectiousness, but that may be too late to prevent transmission to others, including infants.

Even for adults, pertusssis is no walk in the park. It sometimes is called the 100-day cough, and for good reason. After a week or two of runny nose, mild fever and occasional cough – the infectious stage – pertussis brings on fits of extreme coughing, more frequently at night, that can be followed by whooping gasps for breath. People have been known to break ribs and suffer hernias from coughing fits. Sleep can be difficult to impossible. Dehydration and exhaustion are common. This can last six to eight weeks before the coughing begins to subside gradually over several months.

With pertussis in Cook County, and with the lives of infants potentially at risk, recommendations provided by the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and the Department of Public Health and Human Services are:

• Talk with your healthcare provider about the Tdap vaccine for family members.
• Stay home if you are ill.
• Cover your cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow. Throw the tissue away.
• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, especially after sneezing or coughing or going to the bathroom, and before you eat or handle food.
• Get plenty of rest, exercise and eat healthy foods.
• Refrain from touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Contact your medical provider if you develop pertussis-like symptoms

Call Sawtooth Mountain Clinic at 218-387-2330, Cook County Public Health and Human Services at 218-387-3620 or the Minnesota Department of Health at 218-723-4907 for additional information.