The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department is advising that cases of pertussis, also known as “whooping cough,” are increasing in the Bay Area and that people should be aware of the symptoms.
To date, three times as many cases as last year have been reported, with numbers doubling every month during the last three months, according to Health Officer Marty Fenstersheib.
Pertussis is a cyclical disease that peaks every two to five years, according to the health alert. California had its last major pertussis epidemic in 2010 – when a total of 9,100 cases were reported – and while it is too early to say if 2013 will be the peak year, the Health Department has listed tell-tale signs people should be on the lookout for:
•Multiple coughs in a row without a pause for a breath in between coughs, or
•Whooping sound when breathing in at the end of a coughing fit, or
•Vomiting at the end of a coughing fit, and
•Coughing with no explanation for symptoms (cold-like symptoms precede cough; fever is usually absent).
People exhibiting these symptoms should get tested for pertussis, according to the health department.
Pregnant women in their third trimester who have had an acute cough for longer than five days should be tested for pertussis. For infants younger than six-months, the symptoms of pertussis are different. Parents should be aware that very young infants may have no apparent cough but instead have episodes in which the child’s face turns red or purple.
For more information on pertussis, click here.
