Cases of whooping cough are significantly on the rise in Missouri, echoing a nationwide trend that federal health officials are warning the public about.
Missouri has so far this year tallied 422 cases of whooping cough, a 744% increase over a year ago, when there were 50 cases statewide.
In Illinois, the numbers are similarly high: There were 1,356 reported cases, compared with 428 at this time last year.
Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a bacterial infection that attacks the respiratory system. It gets its name from the trademark “whoop” sound a person makes when they gasp for air between coughs.
Doctors treat whooping cough with antibiotics. But many can mistake the infection for a cold or virus, said Dr. Amruta Padhye, a pediatric infectious disease physician at University of Missouri Health.
“The symptoms of whooping cough can be very similar to those of other respiratory viruses and could be missed,” she said. “In that early phase of one to two weeks it may seem like a cold.”
Whooping cough doesn’t pose a serious threat to most people, but infants, people with severe asthma and immunocompromised people can get very sick or even die if they become infected.
“One of the key things is that when there is increased rates in the community, it means people most susceptible to the infection are being exposed to it as well,” Padhye said.
Federal health officials say the rates are returning to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. During the last four years, masking and other mitigation measures have kept infections from spreading.
However, Missouri numbers already have surpassed the total count for 2019 with two months left in the calendar.
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said that increased awareness and testing could be partially contributing to a rise in reported cases.
Doctors say the most effective way to protect against getting whooping cough is with the tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine. The Tdap shot is usually given to children, adolescents and pregnant women.
Getting the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy transfers some immunity to babies. That’s important because infants are too small to be given the whooping cough vaccine.
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