State health officials have recorded 234 cases this year of whooping cough — also known as pertussis — through Sept. 9, more than were reported over the past seven years combined. About three-quarters of this year’s cases came in the past three months.
Of the statewide total, SEARHC reports 11 in Southeast from June through early September, Lyndsey Y. Schaefer, communications director for the health care provider, said in an emailed statement Sept. 12.
Privacy rules prevent SEARHC from disclosing the communities with whooping cough cases, she said.
In Alaska, one infant has died from pertussis this year and more than a dozen patients have been hospitalized, mostly children younger than 2 years old, according to state epidemiologist Joseph McLaughlin.
Pertussis, a bacterial illness, can cause violent coughing fits that continue for weeks and even months.
The Anchorage School District reported infections in six schools as of Sept. 9, the first confirmed cases of the disease in recent years, according to the district’s director of health care services.
“Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can cause severe coughing fits and difficulty breathing, particularly dangerous for infants, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems,” Dr. Cate Buley, SEARHC’s chief medical officer, said in a statement last month.
“Early diagnosis and vaccination are key to preventing the spread of this illness,” the doctor said.
SEARHC recommends that anyone experiencing symptoms such as persistent coughing or difficulty breathing should seek medical care immediately.
The Southeast health care provider also recommended parents confirm that their children have been vaccinated. For an appointment, call the Wrangell Medical Center at 907-874-7000. Booster shots are available for adults.
Alaska state law requires that families vaccinate their children against pertussis to enroll them in school, or apply for a medical or religious exemption. Families must sign and notarize a form that says vaccination “conflicts with the tenets and practices of the church or religious denomination.” The law says: “Personal or philosophical exemptions are not allowed.”
SEARHC has noticed an increase in the number of children who fell behind in their immunizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Schaefer reported last month.
Alaska is in the midst of a pertussis epidemic. By comparison, the year with the most cases before now was 2016, when 149 cases were reported statewide. Alaska already is 50% above that number, with more than three months left in 2024. Just over two dozen cases were reported last year.
The same higher case counts are coming in nationally, McLaughlin said. After several years of low rates during the Coronavirus pandemic, the illness is resurgent and circulating.
In August, four times as many cases were reported across the U.S. as the same time in 2023, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Part of the reason may be the suppression of pertussis during the COVID-19 pandemic due to mitigation measures such as masking and distancing, the CDC said.
“Pertussis is cyclic in nature, with peaks in disease every three to five years,” according to the Alaska Department of Health.
Whooping cough is spread through respiratory droplets, including by coughing, sneezing or sharing saliva. An infected person can spread the illness to others during the first three weeks of infection unless they have been treated for five days with antibiotics, according to the state health department.
The first symptoms to appear are often a runny nose, low-grade fever or mild cough, but severe coughing fits can follow.
Michelle Theriault Boots of the Anchorage Daily News contributed reporting for this story.
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