Catherine Conlon: Newborns most at risk from surge in whooping cough

With over 500 cases of pertussis recorded in Ireland so far this year, pregnant women are being urged to get vaccinated 

Of the cases identified, as of November 1, the HPSC reports that one in five occurred in infants who were less than five months old — the majority of whom were hospitalised.

In November 1932, as the Great Depression was entering its fourth year, two bacteriologists for a state laboratory in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were working on their own time to visit sick children and determine if they were infected with a deadly disease.

Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering visited families living in dire conditions and collected samples from whooping, vomiting, and strangling children.