Health

Whooping cough cases in State four times higher than 2023 total

Twenty measles cases confirmed in 2024 to date with 13 others under investigation

Increased levels of whooping cough are being linked to factors including vaccination levels and decreased natural boosting in the overall population during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photograph: iStock

Shauna Bowers
Thu May 9 2024 - 12:21

The number of whooping cough cases recorded in the State since the start of the year is four times higher than the total detected in all of last year, according to figures from the infectious diseases watchdog.

A Health Protection Surveillance Centre report on infectious diseases in Ireland, published on Thursday, says 11 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, were confirmed last week. There have been 77 cases of the illness since the start of the year, compared with 18 cases in all of last year.

There were also three patients hospitalised with whooping cough last week, a decrease on the six cases in hospital the week before.

Increased levels of the disease are being linked to factors including expected epidemic peaks, vaccination levels and decreased natural boosting in the overall population during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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In Northern Ireland there have been 769 confirmed cases of whooping cough so far this year compared with just two between 2021 and 2023.

Louise Flanagan, consultant in public health with the North’s Public Health Agency, said: “Whooping cough spreads very easily and can make babies and young children in particular very ill, and sadly can even be fatal in young babies or people with heath conditions. However, the good news is that it can be prevented through vaccination, so it’s really important that parents get their babies vaccinated against it as part of the childhood vaccination programme, and that pregnant women also get vaccinated, as this will help protect their unborn baby from getting whooping cough in the weeks after birth.”

She said whooping cough is a disease that can cause long bouts of coughing and choking, which can make it hard to breathe. The evidence shows that babies born to vaccinated mothers are 90 per cent less likely to get the disease than babies whose mothers were unvaccinated.

Dr Scott Walkin, a general practitioner in Co Mayo, said although the numbers are increasing, they are still “relatively low”. He said vaccination was the “most important and best way” to protect against it.

Infants under six months, unimmunised or partially immunised, face the highest risk of severe disease outcomes.

During last year and until April there has been a more than 10-fold increase in pertussis cases in European countries when compared with the same period in 2021 and 2022, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said.

It is an endemic disease that causes larger epidemics every three-to-five years even in countries with high vaccination coverage, with the ECDC stating it “remains a significant public health challenge”.

Stella Kyriakides, EU commissioner for health and food safety, said the rise in the number of cases of whooping cough across Europe “shows the need to be vigilant”.

“It is a serious disease, particularly in infants. We have safe and effective vaccines that can prevent it. Vaccination is our key tool to help save lives and stopping the disease from spreading further,” she said.

Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, described the rise in cases as a “pertussis epidemic”, stating “it’s essential to remember the lives at stake, especially our little ones”.

“Vaccines against pertussis have proven to be safe and effective, and every action we take today shapes the health of tomorrow. We have a responsibility, as parents or as public health professionals, to protect the most vulnerable group from the deadly impact of this disease,” she added.

Meanwhile, there are have been 20 confirmed cases of measles in Ireland since the start of the year. The latest figures, which are up to May 8th, also said there are 13 cases currently under investigation for measles.

There have been three confirmed outbreaks of the disease in private households. There were four confirmed cases in one outbreak, three in the second and two in the third.

[ How worried should I be about measles? A doctor’s guide to a highly infectious disease ]

Shauna Bowers

Shauna Bowers

Shauna Bowers is Health Correspondent of The Irish Times

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