LONG BEACH >> Long Beach has seen a nearly ninefold increase in whooping cough cases so far this year compared with the same time period in 2013, city health officials say.
Health officials have counted 43 cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, so far this year. Last year, Long Beach had five cases of whooping cough between Jan. 1 and May 1.
"The concern is that this is a significant increase," city Health Officer Dr. Mitchell Kushner said.
The city recorded 15 cases of whooping cough in all of 2013, he said.
Long Beach's known cases of whooping cough rose by one in the time between the Long Beach Health & Human Services Department dispatched an alert to warn of rising whooping cough cases on Tuesday morning and the time Kushner spoke on the subject during an afternoon telephone interview.
School-age children have made up the majority of this year's known whooping cough cases, according to the city. None have been fatal.
This year's rise in cases may be the result of such factors as school-age children and adolescents not receiving the recommended booster shots for whooping cough immunizations. Other problems may be that young people who fall ill with whooping cough return to school too quickly after receiving medical care for their ailments or not receiving care in a timely manner, Kushner said.
"Kids are going to school with a persistent cough, and just thinking it's a cold or just a bad cough," he said.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but Kushner said it's imperative that people who are recovering from whooping cough remain at home while taking that medication. That means patients should stay home for the roughly five days required to take the antibiotics that can be given to fight whooping cough rather than return to a regular schedule after two days or so of rest.
The Long Beach Unified School District is working with the city health department to let parents know about this year's increase of whooping cough cases, district spokesman Chris Eftychiou wrote in an email.
The district has sought to alert parents by via email and alerts on individual school websites. The website for Lowell Bayside Academy, for example, has a whooping cough-related warning posted at the top of its home page.
The initial symptoms of whooping cough are often a cough and runny nose that can persist for about two weeks. A patient's condition can then worsen to involve weeks or even months of severe coughing fits. When an infant falls ill with the disease, he or she may suffer more severe symptoms, including the disease's namesake "whooping" sound at the time of coughing, followed by vomiting.
Young children generally receive five doses of immunizations of the DTaP vaccine to prevent infection before attending kindergarten, according to the city. Students entering or transferring into the seventh grade are required to receive booster shots, and pregnant women are advised to take boosters during the third trimester of pregnancy.
Adults who work in the health-care industry or who are frequently near infants are advised to receive boosters to prevent whooping cough in place of the 10-year boosters that many adults receive to prevent tetanus infections, according to the city.
Long Beach residents can obtain information on the availability of low-cost vaccinations by calling 562-570-4315.
Statewide, there have been 495 known cases of whooping cough with a 2014 onset as of March 18, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The state recorded 2,470 whooping cough cases in all of last year. That number is above the 1,023 cases reported in 2012, but well below the 3,016 cases reported in 2011 or the 9,159 cases reported in 2010.
Contact Andrew Edwards at 562-499-1305.
Source : http://www.presstelegram.com/health/20140422/long-beach-health-officials-report-increase-in-whooping-cough-cases
