Originally published December 12 2005
Whooping cough breaks out across 54 counties in Kansas
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
State epidemiologist Gail Hansen remarks on the whooping cough outbreak in Kansas, as 465 cases have been reported this year across 54 counties.
Whooping cough cases have soared more than tenfold in Kansas so far this year compared to 2003, killing one young child and infecting people in 54 Kansas counties, health officials said Wednesday.
The state's outbreak of whooping cough began at the end of last year and has continued through all of this year, said state epidemiologist Gail Hansen.
Last year the number of cases reached 250, and so far this year 465 cases have been reported, including a young child who died this summer.
"There isn't any commonality we have found with people," Hansen said.
Five Kansas counties Douglas, Johnson, Kiowa, Reno and Sedgwick have had 51 percent of the cases, according to KDHE statistics.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory disease often characterized by the signature "whoop" heard when a person struggles to breathe.
The disease can cause weeks of misery for adults, but it is especially dangerous to infants not yet fully immunized.
The number of confirmed cases kept by Kansas regulators is even higher than those reported for the state by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, in part because Kansas continually updates its database, Hansen said.
"That is a big spike," said Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University Medical Center chairman and a vaccine specialist for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Whooping cough outbreaks are spotty and do not affect all parts of the country simultaneously, Schaffner said.
"Whooping cough is always a cyclical disease," he said.
"There would be more cases some years than others in great big cycles."
Health officials are recommending children not delay getting their pertussis vaccines as scheduled.
Adolescents due for a tetanus booster should also get the combined vaccines with the added pertussis protection.
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