Three more babies died from whooping cough in October, as the current surge in cases this year continues to rise.<\/p>\n
The number of cases of whooping cough will rise and fall in three to four year cycles.<\/p>\n
But this year, the total number of cases reported in England and Wales so far, is nearly ten times higher than the last ‘peak’ year.<\/p>\n
There have been 7,728 confirmed cases of whooping cough, but the true number may be even higher as not all cases may have been reported to the Health Protection Agency (HPA)<\/p>\n
The last peak year was 2008 with a total of 797 cases reported.<\/p>\n
Babies are\u00a0particularly\u00a0vulnerable to severe\u00a0complications\u00a0and death but do not get their first\u00a0immunisation\u00a0until four months.<\/p>\n
So far, there have been 13 infant deaths this year. This prompted the Department of Health (DOH) in September to offer pregnant women \u00a0a whooping cough vaccination to protect their newborn babies in the short term.<\/p>\n
Whooping cough is also known as pertussis and is a very infection disease passed from person to person by coughing and sneezing.<\/p>\n
Early\u00a0symptoms\u00a0are similar to the common cold, but gradually, this progresses to fits of coughing and even vomiting. The whooping noise comes from the sound made when people try to catch their breath.<\/p>\n
The pause between the end of a bout of coughing and breathing in again can be delayed by up to 20 seconds. This is very dangerous for infants because sometimes they do not start breathing again.<\/p>\n
Consultant epidemiologist for immunisation at the HPA, Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam says: \u201cWe strongly recommend all pregnant women take up the offer of vaccination.<\/p>\n
Parents should also ensure their children are vaccinated against whooping cough on \u00a0time, even babies of women who\u2019ve had the vaccine in pregnancy \u2013 this is to continue their baby\u2019s protection through childhood. Parents should also be alert to \u00a0the signs and symptoms of whooping cough \u2013 which include severe coughing fits \u00a0accompanied by the characteristic \u201cwhoop\u201d sound in young children but as a \u00a0prolonged cough in older children or adults. It is also advisable to keep babies away \u00a0from older siblings or adults who have the infection.\u201d<\/p>\n
The South East has the highest number of cases with 1,478 reported. The South West follows closely behind with 1, 244.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three more babies died from whooping cough in October, as the current surge in cases this year continues to rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bristol-news"],"yoast_head":"\n