Whooping cough cases rise in South Australia as children, mums, healthcare and education workers encouraged to get boosters

South Australia has reported more than 10 times as many whooping cough cases in 2024 compared to the same time last year, as the country faces an explosion of cases. South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer, Nicola Spurrier, said the state was experiencing a whooping cough wave with 492 cases reported in 2024 - the highest number in six years. "Whooping cough is a serious infection, particularly when we think about our youngest and most vulnerable South Australians, and that is little tiny babies," Professor Spurrier said. "When I have a look back for South Australia, it was about 2016/2017 when we had a very significant wave of whooping cough and then a tiny little wave in 2020," she said. "We are definitely in a wave at the moment, and I don't know how big that's going to get, but if you have a little baby and you want to make sure they're protected as well as you can, think about getting a whooping cough vaccine booster," she said.