120% rise in whooping cough cases

Pregnant women and secondary school students are being targeted as part of a public health campaign to boost protection against whooping cough.

The campaign comes against a backdrop of two infant deaths and a doubling of the number of cases of the disease.

Figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show a 120% increase — from 157 to 346 — in the number of cases notified to it for the first 37 weeks of 2012 compared to the same period last year.