ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis area pediatricians are continuing to see more cases of whooping cough.
According to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services data, 603 cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, have been reported this year.
Of those, 225 cases are in St. Louis County, which is a lot more than health officials have seen in recent years.
“It's actually not unexpected. We've had similar numbers to these in the past and whooping cough is pretty cyclical. So every couple of years you'll get a bigger outbreak that will last a little while a community-wide outbreak like we're seeing now,” St. Louis County Health Department Senior Epidemiologist Amanda Brzozowski said.
Brzozowski said one pediatric office is testing a lot more than others, which is good, but that also means there are probably more cases they're not aware of.
“It's making us realize how much of a tip-of-the-iceberg situation we're in right now. Imagine if every practice was testing as much as this one practice was. Instead of getting, you know, a dozen cases a week, we would be getting, a hundred cases a week,” Brzozowski said.
The most common symptom is coughing spasms that cause you to ultimately lose your breath or even throw up.
Dr. Aaron Miller with SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital said older kids and adults might not realize they have it, but it's very severe for infants who can be hospitalized for months.
“They develop apnea, like instead of this terrible cough, they actually hold their breath and stop breathing, turn blue, and they can't tolerate their feeds. The antibiotics don't do anything for them to decrease it. It's really just time until their body recovers,” Miller said.
Miller said vaccinations are the most effective tool for prevention.
“One problem with the pertussis vaccine is that the immunity wanes over time, and so that's why we have to give so many shots, and we recommend a booster at 11 to 12 years of age,” Miller said.
MDHSS said in a news release, “The rate of Missouri kindergartners vaccinated with DTap has steadily dropped 4% from the 2019-2020 school year to the 2023-2024 school year.”
People with whooping cough can be contagious for up to 21 days, making it very important to get an antibiotic as soon as you can to prevent the spread and if you’re an adult to get an updated TDAP vaccine.