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Five babies succumbed to whooping cough in England on Thursday as cases continued to surge across European countries.
European countries have reported a surge in whooping cough cases in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, with 10 times as many identified as in each of the previous two years, as per a Reuters report.
On Wednesday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said the European Union and the European Economic Area countries reported almost 60,000 cases in total over the specified period, with 11 fatalities recorded among infants and eight among older adults.
“Whooping cough epidemics are expected every 3-5 years even in countries with high vaccination rates,” the ECDC said. The agency noted that in the first three months of 2024, there had already been as many cases as there were in an average year between 2012 and 2019.
Also, known as the 100-day cough, whooping cough, or pertussis, is a bacterial infection of the lungs and airways. It can prove fatal for babies, particularly those under the age of six months, and the elderly. Here’s what we know about it:
📌 Symptoms of whooping cough usually develop within 5 to 10 days after exposure. Sometimes symptoms do not develop for as long as 3 weeks.
📌 In its early stages, whooping cough appears to be nothing more than the common cold. This stage may last a couple of weeks. Symptoms may include a runny or stuffed-up nose, low-grade fever, a mild and occasional cough in children and adults, and apnea (life-threatening pauses in breathing) and cyanosis (turning blue or purple) in babies and young children.
📌 In Stage 2, people with whooping cough may develop rapid, violent, and uncontrolled coughing fits. These coughing fits usually last 1 to 6 weeks but can last for up to 10 weeks. The coughing fits can cause people to make a high-pitched “whoop” sound when they are finally able to inhale at the end of a coughing fit, vomit during or after coughing fits.
📌 The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that one sees a doctor, if one is struggling to breathe, turning blue or purple, coughing violently, coughing rapidly over and over, or not drinking enough fluids.
📌 Vaccinated people may not get as sick as the vaccines are effective, but not perfect. In vaccinated people who get the cough, the symptoms are subdued.
📌 As one recovers, the coughing fits may stop for a while but can return if one gets other respiratory infections.
