Whooping Cough To Reach 10-Year High in Connecticut

State health officials are calling on residents to get booster shots for whooping cough, or pertussis, as the number of reported cases of the disease approaches a 10-year high in Connecticut, according to the New Haven Independent.

In a story today on its website, the Independent quotes a state health official who says the national outbreak of the disease is reaching into Connecticut and that the state has already seen 111 cases of whooping cough so far this year. That puts Connecticut on track to break a 10-year record on the number of cases of the disease.

“It’s really important that people who are expecting a child make sure that they’ve had the Tdap booster,” Kathy Kudish, an epidemiologist with the Department of Public Health, told the Independent. “We really want to protect the most vulnerable, and that’s infants up to 12 months.”

Public Health Nurse Sherry Carlson of the Connecticut River Area Health District (CRAHD), to which Clinton is a member, said she knows of one case reported in Clinton last year, but none in town this year, or in the CRAHD district which includes Old Saybrook and Deep River.

She advises new parents, grandparents who care for their infant grandchildren, and medical staff who care for young children to receive the booster from their health care provider.

The CRAHD does not dispense immunizations or boosters, said Carlson.

Whooping cough, an illness believed to be mostly eradicated by modern medicine, is making a comeback as the vaccine millions got as children to ward off the illness loses its effectiveness.

So far this year there have been 22,000 cases of pertussis reported in the U.S., with 13 deaths, mostly among infants, attributed to the disease. There were 18,719 cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control in all of last year. The U.S. hasn't seen that many cases of whooping cough since 1959.

In Connecticut, the number of reported cases of whooping cough has so far more than doubled the number of all cases reported here in 2011, according to the CDC.

The state is encouraging other adults and parents of children 11 and older to talk with their doctors to find out if they have received the pertussis booster. 

"We have not had a call for adult pertussis vaccinations but it is considered good general practice for the primary care physicians to offer adults the Tdap—tetanus, diptheria and pertussis combination shot," said Mary Lenzini, CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeastern Connecticut. "That was strongly encouraged, and that is the one that you give adults."

In October, pharmacists will be authorized to offer the booster to people 18 and older, the Independent reports.

The CDC has a page on its website devoted to pertussis FAQs and other information.