Whooping cough epidemic hits California

A resurgence of Whooping Cough has risen to epidemic levels in California. To date, five infants have died from this disease. To date there have been over 900 cases confirmed in California with another 500 cases being investigated. People in California, especially of Latino descent, are encouraged to be immunized against the disease. The deaths, and a majority of the confirmed cases, have mostly been in the Latino community.

Whooping cough is a worldwide disease that continually circles the globe. It is often confused with a cold or flu because the symptoms, especially at onset, are a runny nose, slight cough and fever. As the disease progresses, the cough turns severe giving the sound of “whooping” when the person coughs. The disease can be fatal in infants because it is often misdiagnoses until it is severe.

Pertussis is the official name of whooping cough in the medical community. It has been advised that children and adults receive a booster shot for this disease as immunity to it often diminishes over a period of time. The initial inoculations are first given at the age of two months.

Right now the highest occurrence of the disease is happening in the agricultural areas of the state. Doctors believe this may be due to the high migrant worker populations in these areas that often are not immunized for the disease.

The CDC is carefully watching this epidemic in California right now because summertime is generally the time that Whooping cough outbreaks are the worst.