Whooping Cough Case Numbers 5 Times Higher Than Last Year: CDC

Reports of pertussis (whooping cough) have dramatically risen over the past year in the United States, with case numbers exceeding the pre-pandemic highs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Preliminary data show that more than five times as many cases have been reported as of week 41, reported on October 12, 2024, compared to the same time in 2023.”
“The number of reported cases this year is higher than what was seen at the same time in 2019, prior to the pandemic,” the CDC noted. The agency speculated that mitigation measures implemented during the pandemic, like remote learning and masking, were likely the reason for lower transmission levels of pertussis during this period.
Whooping cough was a major cause of childhood mortality in the United States last century. Over 200,000 cases were reported annually before a vaccine for the illness became available in the 1940s. Between the ‘40s and ’80s, the number of cases fell by more than 90 percent after widespread use of diphtheria, tetanus toxoid, and whole-cell pertussis (DTP) vaccine, the CDC noted.
However, yearly cases began to rise in the ‘80s, hitting a peak of over 48,000 incidents in 2012. Since then, annual case numbers remained elevated until the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency attributes the rising whooping cough cases over the last decades to multiple factors, including improved recognition of the illness by health care providers, increased surveillance and reporting to public health departments, and waning immunity from acellular pertussis vaccines.
She pointed out that 95–99 percent of people who died from pertussis stopped dying from the illness before the first vaccine was introduced, a transformation brought on by improved living conditions such as modern plumbing.
The old “whole cell” vaccine used against whooping cough is known to have resulted in brain damage in several children, she noted. The United States stopped using this vaccine in 1999.
Another group at high risk is people with pre-existing health conditions that can worsen by whooping cough, like those with immunocompromising conditions.
While the agency says vaccination is the best way to prevent pertussis, it notes that incidents are expected to increase in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals moving forward. Pertussis affects vaccinated individuals as immunity gained fades with time.
The illness is treated using antibiotics medications called PEP. “These are medicines given to someone who has been exposed to harmful bacteria to help prevent them from getting sick.
“Some people should receive antibiotics to prevent them from getting sick if they have been around someone with whooping cough,” the agency said.
“The increased risk of hearing loss with macrolides remains controversial,” the researchers wrote.