According to a press release from the Georgia Department of Public Health:
“Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, has recently increased in the eight-county metropolitan Atlanta area of: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale counties. As of July 28, 2012, 95 cases of whooping cough have been reported, compared to 51 cases during the same time period last year. “Though we have not seen a substantial increase in the number of whooping cough cases statewide, the increase in whooping cough cases in highly-populated metro-Atlanta is of concern,” said state epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek, D.V.M. The increase is similar to national trends, as the U.S. appears to be headed for its worst year for whooping cough in more than five decades. Nearly 18,000 cases have been reported nationally so far—more than twice the number seen last year.”
Whooping cough is a devastating disease in infants and young children; I continue to see cases in my practice, and have cared for critically ill infants with whooping cough when I worked in children’s hospitals. It is still out there, and children still really need to be vaccinated as soon as possible for this horrible disease.
