Whooping cough in 2012 worst for country since 1955

Author:: BMTN Staff
Updated:: Mar 8, 2018
Original:: Jan 5, 2013

The outbreak of whooping cough was not only bad for Minnesota, but many parts of the nation -- and as a whole the it was the worst year for cases since 1955, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

Experts said the number of whooping cough -- also known as pertussis -- cases nationwide appears to have peaked with 41,880 cases, and while more cases may emerge, it is not expected to surpass the 63,000 cases of 1955.

Minnesota was among the hardest hit states by the whooping cough last year with 4,300 cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says other states hit hard by the outbreak were Colorado, Washington state, Wisconsin and Vermont.

CDC Dr. Tom Clark tells MPR that the rise in cases may be due to the fact that the vaccine used for whooping cough in the 1990s doesn't last as long as the old one.

Nationwide 18 people died from whooping cough last year, including 15 infants under the age of 1.

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The latest figures from the Minnesota Department of Health.

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Minnesota is one of several states dealing with a severe outbreak of the disease. Some 400 new cases have popped up in Minnesota this month. The people contracting the disease most often are older elementary school kids and middle schoolers.

The Minnesota Department of Health says 189 new cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough -- have been confirmed in the state in the last week. That brings the total to more than 3,500 cases in the state this year.

Minnesota's number of whooping cough cases continues to grow. The state confirmed about 400 new cases of whooping cough in the past month, raising the total in Minnesota to nearly 2,400 infections this year. The number of confirmed cases is the highest since vaccines were introduced in the 1950s.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Wisconsin leads the country in what could be the worst outbreak of whooping cough in more than five decades, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Through July 5, Wisconsin had nearly 51 cases per 100,000 people -- nearly 10 times the national average.

In June, Minnesota broke the previous record of 1,571 whooping cough cases, set in 2005. By the end of last week, state public health officials had confirmed 1,881 cases of the disease. Now Minnesota is on pace to shatter that record – perhaps double it – by year's end.

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