Whooping Cough Claims Another Child

By: Katharine Mieszkowski

A seventh infant in California has died of whooping cough, according to the California Department of Public Health. The statewide epidemic shows no signs of abating.

The number of cases reported to state health officials this year through July 27 has climbed to 2,174, a sixfold increase over the same period last year.

Click here to hear what whooping cough sounds like.

Babies who are younger than six months old have been hardest hit in the state with 1.1 out of every 1,000 coming down with the disease. Marin County is now tied with San Luis Obispo for the worst rate of the disease, with 94 cases per 100,000 people. 

Whites have shown the highest rates of the disease overall this year in the state, but by age category, Hispanic infants under age six months have seen the worst of it. In fact, all the fatalities have been Hispanic infants who were younger than two months old.

“The pertussis epidemic is a sobering and tragic reminder that diseases long thought controlled can return with a vengeance,” said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health, in a statement. “We can protect ourselves and the most vulnerable in our community by getting vaccinated today.”

Infants can start receiving the series of shots to protect against pertussis at age six weeks. The majority of infants who have gotten sick this year in California have been younger than three months old. None of the babies who died had begun their shots. Young infants with pertussis are less likely to have the characteristic cough, so the diagnosis is often delayed, which can be dangerous.