Jul 15, 2008 6:23 pm US/Central
Whooping Cough Information
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a potentially fatal bacterial respiratory infection that causes irritation in breathing passages and can result in severe coughing spells. Its name comes from the sound victims make as they try to recover their breath after a coughing fit.
The disease causes severe coughing, accompanied by "whooping" gasps for air that can last for months. It spreads through coughs and sneezes.
The first symptoms of whooping cough appear about seven to 10 days after a person is exposed. The most accurate diagnostic testing for whooping cough requires a week or more to grow the pertussis bacteria from a sample from a patient's nose or throat. Sometimes that's too long for health authorities to take action to prevent the disease from spreading.
It is highly contagious and can be deadly in infants. That is why children are routinely vaccinated against it, starting at 2 months, although the protectiveness of the vaccine wanes after five years. Booster shots for adolescents and adults also were recently approved.
In older children and adults, the disease is milder but can last for weeks or months. They are an infection risk to infants who have not been fully vaccinated. Health officials attribute the increase in the disease spreading largely to adults and teenagers contracting the illness after immunity from childhood vaccinations wore off.
Pertusis In Texas And The Region
So far this year, 431 cases and three deaths have been reported statewide. One of those deaths was in Tarrant County. The state says this is not an epidemic, but considers it "clusters of cases."
Dallas County
2008: 59 cases (no deaths)
2007: 97 cases
2006: 81 cases
Tarrant County
2008: 69 cases (1 death)
2007 – 79 cases
2006 – 41 cases
Collin County
2008: 44 cases (no deaths)
2007: 100 cases
2006: 36 cases
Denton County
2008: 132 cases (no deaths)
2007: 85 cases
2006: 47 cases
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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