Whoops ... It's Back

Houston health officials recently issued a warning to parents and physicians regarding an increase in pertussis cases in the Houston area.

Last month there were seven confirmed and two probable Houston cases of pertussis that occurred in children ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years. Since Jan. 1, there have been 30 confirmed and 16 probable local cases.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is usually transmitted from infected adults to infants. Pertussis is a vaccine-preventable disease, but the immunization only provides approximately 70 percent immunity at the third dose, which is administered at 6 months of age. The vaccine does not confer lifetime immunity. Adults and teenagers who are no longer immune to the disease are often misdiagnosed with a cold or sinus infection and inadvertently expose infants too young for completion of the immunization schedule.

"The respiratory system of an infant has difficulty clearing the large amount of mucus which is caused by a pertussis infection," said Brock Lamont, Houston Department of Health and Human Services' immunization chief.

The bacterial infection, untreated, results in the classic whoop-like sound in infants and toddlers trying to force air into their lungs after a coughing spell. After one of these spells, an infant or toddler can vomit, turn blue, and in some cases, stop breathing. Left untreated, mucus can drown a child. Pertussis is treated with the antibiotic erythromycin.

Pertussis is most often seen in the summer months. Outbreaks associated with youth camps were identified in Burnett County this past summer and Dallas last winter.

Medical testing can differentiate between pertussis and other less significant infections. The department encourages area physicians to consider pertussis in teenaged and adult patients who present with respiratory infections and to consider potential exposures to preimmune children in the household. Childcare centers are similarly encouraged to enforce on-time immunization for all children and exclusion of children with respiratory illness.

For more information , visit www.tdh.state.tx.us/immnize/pertussis.htm.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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