United States: Whooping cough cases are highly rising across the country, which hereby includes the D.C. area. So far this year, 743 people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia who have already gotten sick, as compared to just around 111 cases in all of 2023. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the illness which is really very contagious. “It spreads easily,” said Amanda Joy, a certified physician assistant.
Joy, the associate medical director for MedStar Health Urgent Care centers in the D.C. area I was informed that they have had close to 20 patients with whooping cough since only October.
The illness also known as pertussis can be prevented for many through tetanus shot. However, it is especially being witnessed in clusters such as school communities across the area as pointed by Joy.
As reported by the Wtop.com news, “They have to do contact tracing for every provider in the clinic right? Every associate in the clinic to ensure that they were masked during contact with that patient,” Joy said.
It is a highly infectious respiratory illness, flu like symptoms with sneezing or congestion, then develops into a coughing spell that makes one gasp for breath. The coughing is so intense that, at times, a person chokes to vomit, according to Joy.
“That’s the one that goes ‘whooping’ like that and that will usually appear by the first or second week and can actually persist for months,” Joy said.
It is an easily cured sickness by the use of antibiotics but is severe and sometimes fatal in infants and young children.
“Babies are at the greatest risk and if they catch whooping cough, they are likely to be hospitalized a third of the time since they stop breathing instead of whooping, and they are likely to have blue lips and other such signs,” Joy said.
In cases where parents have young children whom they believe have the illness, Joy advises them to seek medical attention from the hospital or an urgent care clinic.
Whooping cough can be prevented in adults through a booster shot called Tdap that should be taken every ten years. Tdap is a shot that keeps tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis away for years by administering vaccines for all at once.