The Return of Whooping Cough

October 16, 2024

Whooping cough has made a return to pre-pandemic levels, with more than five times as many cases reported this year compared to last year, according to the CDC.

America’s changing public health precautions coming out of the pandemic are driving this return to “normal” for whooping cough and other respiratory illnesses, the CDC noted this month.

 Here’s what you need to know:

• By the numbers:  There have been 17,579 whooping cough cases through October 5. That’s compared to 3,962 through the same period last year.
• In Pennsylvania:  Year-to-date, there have been 2,209 in the commonwealth compared to 209 through the same period last year.
• Why:  Public health precautions during the pandemic (masking, social distancing, remote learning) lowered transmission of pertussis and other respiratory illnesses. The return to our “post-pandemic normal” has led to the return of more normal trends across these illnesses.
  • Whooping cough spreads through the air when a person sneezes or coughs and other people can then breathe in the bacteria.
• What to do:  The CDC recommends vaccination for everyone to protect against whooping cough, but the protection fades over time. Learn more about the vaccines here.
• Critically important:  Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccination during pregnancy protects 9 in 10 babies from being hospitalized with whooping cough, the CDC noted.
  • The health agency recently released an advocacy campaign to encourage vaccination during pregnancy.

See the latest trends from the CDC online. HAP encourages everyone to stay up to date with their vaccines for whooping cough, COVID-19, and the flu. Learn more about the importance of vaccines online.

Additional information from the CDC is available online.