ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – With the school year starting, parents are working to protect their children from viral infections through vaccination.
One of the viruses going around is pertussis—better known as whooping cough.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported double the number of cases this time last year, showing a surge in cases as early as the beginning of summer.
The St. Louis County Department of Public Health also reported cases surging through the last few months.
According to the Department of Public Health’s summary surveillance for the month of July, cases of pertussis are up 1400%, with 30 cases so far this year.
The chart provided shows we would normally have two cases when looking at data from the last five years.
Amanda Brzozowski with the Department of public health said the numbers are accurate. She also noted the surge compared to the last five years, where cases were down since the pandemic.
“It looks low because we were in that pandemic, those pandemic years where we really did not see as much pertussis transmission,” Brzozowski said. “We’re just post-pandemic and we’re back to what we were seeing before then, when everybody was masked up and really good about staying home when they were sick, that meant that they were not only good about preventing the spread of COVID or flu, but also things like pertussis.”
Brzozowski said understanding the symptoms and getting an official diagnosis could help avoid exposures and spread.
“This isn’t like a constant cough, a constant feeling of being sick,” Brzozowski said. “If you’re actively coughing, you will have pretty severe coughing fits; they’re often worse at night. Sometimes they can be so severe that you cough until you throw up or you cough until you lose your breath.”
Brzozowski said symptoms will not include aches or a fever, and while vaccination helps make the virus less severe, it does not mean a vaccinated person can’t catch it.
Caitlin Coughland, a local school teacher and mother, said it’s up to parents to protect their children from these kinds of viruses.
“Don’t ignore the symptoms because it could be something worse than it presents,” Brzozowski said. “I myself definitely want to get my kid vaccinated because he’s in the public school system and everything—so around a lot of kids.”
Coughland said she teaches her students about basic hygiene, like handwashing and covering coughs, to ensure students are protected.
Numbers also showed an increase in legionellosis (Atypical pneumonia), with 22 cases reported and a 144% increase compared to the median of the five previous years.
COVID-19 is down 54%, with 6,552 cases reported this year, compared to the median of the five previous years, officials say.
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