Texas reports rise in whooping cough cases

Till now, 1,783 cases of Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough have been reported in Texas. Also, 610 cases have been reported in Michigan. In Florida, 145 whooping cough cases confirmed have been confirmed. These include 23 babies below three months of age.

Increase in cases
An increase in the whooping cough patients has been detected by the health officials since 2008.

The advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has issued an advisory on Wednesday recommending that people above 65 years of age and those who remain near young children should get vaccinated.

The highest rise is in central Texas. Tarrant County has also registered an increase but there has been no substantial rise in Dallas County.

The increase in the number of whooping cough patients is still not that high to warrant the declaration of an epidemic.

Earlier, whooping cough has been declared an epidemic in California with 62000 residents suffering from it. Also, the state had reported death of many infants.

The particular attention towards children below three months of age is due to the reason that nine out of the 10 children who lost their lives were too young to be fully vaccinated.

Vaccination recommended
The advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has issued an advisory on Wednesday recommending that people above 65 years of age and those who remain near young children should get vaccinated.

About two third of the infants who are afflicted with this disease have to be hospitalized and nearly 10 percent have developed pneumonia, and one out of 250 children are suffering from encephalopathy, a disease that affects the brain.

Whooping cough is named after the wheezing sound a patient makes while trying to breathe during a cough attack.

The vaccination guidelines recommend that children should get the doses of vaccines at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months and between the ages of 15 to 18 months. Later, dose should be given between 4 to 6 years and a booster dose between ages 11 to 12.

Symptoms
The Texas health department has said that symptoms of whooping cough are similar to common cold with a runny nose, sneezing, mild fever and cough.

This type of cough continues for two to three weeks and there is generally no fever in this period. Young children often make a whooping sound as they try to breathe between spells of coughing.

Whooping cough is due by bacteria residing in the nose, mouth and throat of the patient and this spreads through sneezing, coughing and even talking.

It can be dangerous in some cases especially for young children.