The mysterious spike in whooping cough cases

Published : May 25, 2024 21:41 IST - 5 MINS READ In the winter of 2023, health experts across the European continent started noticing something weird. According to figures outlined in the ECDC’s latest report on the situation, the majority of European cases occurred in infants—the population for which whooping cough can turn deadly. The flu cases have maybe doubled in the years since the pandemic, Hunter said — they haven’t risen tenfold, as we’re seeing with whooping cough. Pertussis vaccine The third likely complicating factor could be the whooping cough vaccines themselves, experts say. Boosters may be an option to lower spread, he said, but “it’s not entirely clear how often you can boost without losing effectiveness.” “Or are we happy with the situation whereby as long as we can stop babies from becoming really ill, and dying, is that good enough, and everyone else just has to cope with some chronic cough once in a while?” There are new pertussis vaccines out there, Preston said, some which could transfer “far superior” immunity compared with the two vaccines available now.