Whooping cough comes ‘roaring back’ with 100-plus cases in Washtenaw County

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – Four months after health officials first reported a spike in cases, a whooping cough comeback is in full swing among kids and young adults in Washtenaw County.

The number of cases of pertussis, commonly referred to as whooping cough, peaked in September with more than 35 reported cases in children ages 5 to 17 and just more than 40 overall, according to the Washtenaw County Health Department. The number of cases overall reported through Oct. 16 was 146.

“It had been a few years since we had seen cases, and of course, some of that is related to the (COVID-19) pandemic because everyone was staying away from each other,” said Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, Washtenaw County Health Department spokesperson

In June, the health department reported 21 new cases of pertussis.

Now, Ringler-Cerniglia said “pertussis has come roaring back,” particularly in the last couple of months as the school year resumed and kids were exposed to the illness.

“We are up over 100 cases,” she said. “We’ve been seeing somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to 10 cases reported a week.”

According to monthly data tracking the onset of symptoms, children ages 5 to 17 years old have made up most whooping cough cases in Washtenaw County since April.

“It’s been circulating in the schools,” Ringler-Cerniglia said. “That’s one of (the respiratory illnesses) that requires antibiotic treatment, and while an individual is being treated, they’re typically asked to be out of school to reduce that spread.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whooping cough may look like a common cold early on, but symptoms can be more severe. It is often characterized by the “whoop” sound when someone gasps for air after a coughing fit.

Babies and young children may not cough, but exhibit difficulty breathing instead.

In older kids the illness may exhibit with more severe and longer bouts of coughing, Ringler-Cerniglia said.

In addition to antibiotics as treatment, health officials typically recommend pertussis-related vaccines for those who are eligible, particularly for parents and caregivers of infants who are too young to receive it.

Ringler-Cerniglia said regular vaccines are not “particularly long-lasting” in effectiveness, especially in adolescence, without another recommended booster. So, she cautions vaccines are not always 100% effective, and some vaccinated people may still become ill.

Covering your moth when coughing and washing hands are other recommended prevention methods, health officials said.

“Thankfully, we haven’t seen a lot of hospitalizations with this,” Ringler-Cerniglia said.

While the cough often lasts a long time and can be miserable, she said what is really worrisome are the babies getting exposed.

“Because that’s where, if there are deaths, we often see them,” she said.

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the immunization rates for the DTaP and Tdap vaccines, which cover tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, were 77.3% for infants and toddlers ages 19 months through just under three years, 71.9% for teens ages 13 to 17, and 61.2% for adults in Washtenaw County as of June this year.

The rate of infant vaccinations was a decrease of less than a percent from the previous report card but is higher than the state’s average.

There was no listed difference for other age groups between county immunization report cards. The teens' rate in Washtenaw was higher than the state average, though much lower for adults ages 19 to 64.

For more information about whooping cough, or pertussis, visit the Washtenaw County Health Department’s page or that of the CDC.

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