Whooping Cough Cases Have Tripled in the U.S.

Mar. 15, 2025

Stock image of a child coughing.Photo:Getty

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Cases of pertussis — commonly known as whooping cough — have tripled in the United States this year.

At this time last year, there were 2,918 diagnosed cases of the respiratory illness, data from theU.S. Centers for Disease Controlsays.

This year, however, there have been 10,865 cases of whooping cough, with 1,571 cases recorded in Pennsylvania alone.

Stock image of someone coughing.Getty

It can take up to ten days for symptoms to start appearing, the Mayo Clinic explains, and along with a telltale cough, those with pertussis may develop cold-like symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion, red, watery eyes and a fever.

Covid-eramasks andisolation practices helped bring the cases of whooping cough down, but the CDC notes this level of infection is now at“pre-pandemic levels.“The CDC urges everyone to stay up-to-date with their vaccinations — especially children, as younger kids are at the highest risk of a severe outcome from whooping cough.

Treatment is usually antibiotics,the CDC says,but warns that newborns need to be monitored for “serious adverse events” if given antibiotics to combat whooping cough.

However, “the risk of developing severe pertussis and life-threatening complications outweighs the potential risk” of complications from antibiotics.

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After age 7, the CDC recommends theTdap booster shotfor people who have not been fully vaccinated.

Stock image of a child getting the DTaP vaccine.Getty

“In the younger kids, and especially in infants, they can have apnea, so they stop breathing. They can be hospitalized in the intensive care unit, and unfortunately, children can and have died from pertussis,” Dr. Robert Frenck, a professor of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio,told ABC News.

“So, these are not innocuous infections. They can be very serious, and they can be deadly.”

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source: people.com