Sharp increase in reported cases of whooping cough

There has been a sharp rise this year in whooping cough — a disease that can be fatal in young children.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), 54 of the 77 cases of the disease reported during the first three months of this year were laboratory-confirmed.

There were just 15 cases of the disease reported to the public health watchdog over the same period last year.

Overall in 2011, 229 cases were notified to the HPSC. A particular rise has been seen this year among very young children, who are most at risk of serious complications and death from the disease.

So far this year, 56% of the cases were in children under five years of age; 44% were less than one year old and 42% were five months or under.

Among the 43 children who were under five years of age, 32 were age-eligible for the pertussis vaccination. However, 13 were unvaccinated.

Of the children with whooping cough, 33 (43%) were hospitalised, with the vast majority (82%) less than one year old.

While all areas of the country were affected, most of the cases originated in the south and east of the country.

The HPSC, which is part of the Health Service Executive, is urging parents to ensure their children are vaccinated against the highly infectious disease.

The completed three-dose pertussis vaccination uptake in children at 24 months is currently 94%.

A spike in whooping cough cases has also been reported across Britain, with disease clusters in schools, universities and healthcare settings.

The HPSC said that while the number of cases of whooping cough in Ireland had soared this year, there have been no deaths from the disease.

The health protection watchdog is urging parents to ensure their children are fully vaccinated against the disease, also known as pertussis.

Children should be vaccinated with three doses of vaccine at two, four and six months to prevent infection early in life. Booster doses of pertussis vaccine are recommended at around four to five years of age.

The HSE introduced a pertussis-containing booster for first-year college students last September to help control the spread of whooping cough.

The move to vaccinate adolescents in order to control the disease followed a recommendation from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

The main symptoms are severe coughing fits, which in babies and children are sometimes, but not always, accompanied by a characteristic “whoop” sound as the child gasps for breath.

While antibiotic treatment can shorten the contagious period by stopping the infection risk, it does nothing to shorten the length of the illness and the cough.

* www.hpsc.ie

Disease dangers

* Babies and young children are most likely to develop severe complications from whooping cough.

Complications include pneumonia, difficulty in breathing, weight loss due to excessive vomiting, seizures or brain damage, low blood pressure and kidney failure.

Severe complications, such as pneumonia and brain damage can be fatal, although this is extremely rare and mostly occurs in babies under six months.

Symptoms of whooping cough are similar to the common cold and include sneezing, runny nose, low-grade fever and a mild cough.

Within two weeks the cough becomes more severe and is characterised by episodes of numerous rapid coughs, followed by a high-pitched whoop.