Cases of whooping cough have seen a significant rise across the north in 2024, with the Public Health Agency putting that partly down to increased awareness about the infection.
More than 2,000 cases of the infection have been confirmed here this year already, with the rise in the number of cases being reflected in many other parts of Europe.
But what exactly is whooping cough and what are the symptoms?
What is whooping cough?
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly contagious but vaccine preventable bacterial respiratory disease
It is normally characterised by a “whooping” cough, cold and fever. It can cause long bouts of coughing and choking, which can make it hard to breathe. It can be very serious for young children and even fatal for babies under one year old.
How many cases have there been?
There have been 2716 confirmed whooping cough cases in the north during 2024. There has been an increase in notifications of clinically suspected and confirmed cases since January 2024.
Similar increases have been reported in multiple countries across Europe. The number of cases reported during 2020 to 2023 had been particularly low, a secondary impact of interventions to control the spread of COVID-19.
To date in 2024, the highest number of confirmed cases have been reported in those aged 5-9 years (555), 10-14 years (681) and 25 years and older (776).
Symptoms
The first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to those of a cold, such as a runny nose, red and watery eyes, a sore throat, and a slightly raised temperature.
Intense coughing bouts start about a week later. The bouts usually last a few minutes at a time and tend to be more common at night.
Coughing usually brings up thick mucus and may be followed by vomiting. Between coughs, you or your child may gasp for breath – this may cause a ‘whoop’ sound, although not everyone has this.
The strain of coughing can cause the face to become very red, and there may be some slight bleeding under the skin or in the eyes. Young children’s skin can sometimes briefly turn dusky, blue (cyanosis) if they have trouble breathing.
In very young babies, the cough may not be particularly noticeable, but there may be brief periods where they stop breathing. The bouts will eventually start to become less severe and less frequent over time, but it may be a few months before they stop completely.
Who is at risk?
Whooping cough can affect people of any age, including:
- babies and young children – young babies under 6 months of age are at a particularly increased risk of complications of whooping cough
- older children and adults – it tends to be less serious in these cases, but can still be unpleasant and frustrating
- people who’ve had whooping cough before – you’re not immune to whooping cough if you’ve had it before, although it tends to be less severe the second time around
- people vaccinated against whooping cough as a child – protection from the whooping cough vaccine tends to wear off after a few years
You can get whooping cough if you come into close contact with someone with the infection.
A person with whooping cough is infectious from about 6 days after they were infected – when they just have cold-like symptoms – until three weeks after the coughing bouts start.
Antibiotic treatment can reduce the length of time someone is infectious.
