United States: 2024 has seen the highest activity of very contagious and dangerous illness – whooping cough – in California in the US. It has marked a comeback to a concerning level not seen since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
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Nearly three hundred cases of whooping cough or pertussis have been reported throughout California in the previous year.
On the other hand, more then one thousand and seven hundred cases have been reported across the state as of September, confirmed by the California Department of Public Health.
According to the US CDC, kids younger than one year of age are at the most significant risk of infection from this dangerous illness.
Furthermore, other people who are at greater risk are those who have weak immunity or have moderate-to-severe asthma, latimes.com reported.
Rising cases of the disease
In Los Angeles County, so far, 347 cases have been confirmed from whooping cough this year so far, where only 126 were reported in 2023, and more than quadruple the 2022 total.
As experts noted, the total number of whooping cough cases in 2024 reported across the nation is greater than what was reported in 2019 (the last year before the commencement of the Covid pandemic).
However, in recent years, there have been several respiratory illnesses that have seen a decline in total transmission of cases, majorly because of the preventive measures in place to prevent the covid.
Furthermore, so far, in 2024, the total number of whooping cough cases in Los Angeles is 3.5 times greater than in the same phase in the past year.
According to Dr. Nava Yeganeh, medical director for Vaccine Preventable Disease Control for the L.A. County Department of Public Health, “We’re definitely noticing that more and more schools are reporting several of their students having infection,” latimes.com reported.
“We’re keeping a close eye on that and trying to make sure we can do whatever we can to decrease the number of pertussis cases,” Yeganeh added.
Although experts note that whooping cough generally jumps every three to five years, so we’re overdue,” Yeganeh added.
“Our last big spike was in 2019. … We aren’t quite to where we were in 2019, so we’re grateful for that, but really keeping an eye on the numbers,” he added.