Whooping Cough: Sudden Rise in Pertussis Noticed in City of Long Beach

The U.S. health officials are alarmed at the sudden rise of whooping cough in the City of Long Beach, California . A three-fold increase in the number of cases has been seen this year.

Health officials at the City of Long Beach have warned the residents of the increase in the number of whooping cases in the city. Also called Pertussis, this bacterial infection causes uncontrollable coughing and is highly contagious. This particular respiratory infection affects people of any age but is extremely serious in young children.

The health officials in the City of Long Beach have till date confirmed 42 cases of pertussis and warn the residents to immunize themselves and their families against the preventable disease.

"A recent rise in pertussis in the City of Long Beach serves as a reminder that all age groups need to be properly immunized against this highly contagious disease," Dr. Mitchell Kushner, Health Officer for the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

Most of the infected victims include school-age children but luckily no deaths have been reported. 

According to the Long Beach Health Officer Michael Kushner, the number of cases reported this year in the City of Long Beach has witness a three-fold increase as in the year 2013 there were 15 cases of whooping cough reported and in 2012 there were just four cases reported. This sudden rise could be due to the less potent vaccine or the lower rates of vaccination or booster shots or infections that were left untreated, Reuters Health reports.

As mentioned above, this year more children have been diagnosed with whooping cough. Though children receive five doses of the vaccine (DTaP) before kindergarten, the vaccine fails to provide lifelong immunity.  The immunity of the vaccine weakens over time and booster shots are needed throughout life. 

Children who are unimmunized or incompletely immunized are more vulnerable and also at an increased risk of suffering from severe complications. The contagious pertussis starts with a cough and runny nose that lasts for 2 weeks followed by weeks or months of rapid coughing fits.

 "Overall, U.S. infections hit a 50-year high in 2012 with 48,277 reported cases, but the number dropped by half last year and appears to be decreasing slightly in 2014," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Jason McDonald.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of whooping cough cases has soared since the 1990s.  Every year there are nearly 10,000 cases of pertussis reported.