Australia is battling its聽聽in whooping cough cases in 35 years.聽
During 2024 and 2025 Australia recorded 82,513 whooping cough cases 鈥 the highest number since monitoring began in 1991.
Also known as pertussis or the 鈥100-day cough鈥, whooping cough is a potentially fatal respiratory illness which causes severe coughing episodes.
It spreads from one person to another and is particularly deadly among infants.
So why the surge? And how can you protect yourself and your loved ones?
What is whooping cough?
聽is a respiratory infection caused by the bacteria聽Bordetella pertussis.
Transmission occurs through close contact with infected people such as via coughing and sneezing.
聽include runny nose or sore throat. This is called the 鈥渃atarrhal phase鈥 and can look similar to a common cold.
A persistent cough comes next, and typically lasts between six and ten weeks.
This leads to intense bouts of coughing, with babies and children often making high-pitched聽聽when they breath in. This is where the term 鈥渨hooping cough鈥 comes from.
Whooping cough can be very severe in newborn babies and infants. About聽聽babies with whooping cough aged below six months dies from pneumonia or brain damage.
Household contacts and carers often pass the illness onto infants, with聽聽the source of infection in more than 50 percent of cases. Infants can also pick up an infection from聽听补苍诲听听飞辞谤办别谤蝉.
Complications in older children and adults include interrupted sleep and pneumonia, a lung infection which can require hospitalisation. Patients can even sustain聽聽from coughing so hard.
Antibiotics, when聽, can stop disease progression.
However after the cough is established, which is when most people realise they are infected, antibiotics聽聽on the disease鈥檚 progression.
But, there鈥檚 a vaccine for it?
Yes. The whooping cough vaccine is given as a combination vaccine with diphtheria and tetanus.
In Australia, this vaccine is part of routine infant and childhood immunisation schedules. A booster dose is also given to Year 7 students.
Pregnant women are advised to vaccinate every pregnancy to boost the production and transfer of antibodies to their unborn baby. This also helps protect infants who are too young to be immunised.
础听聽from Denmark found vaccination during pregnancy to be 72 percent effective against laboratory confirmed whooping cough.
Although infants are most vulnerable to whooping cough, it can cause infection across all ages and put a large strain on the health-care system, especially for聽.
To protect themselves and limit spread of the disease, adults should get vaccinated every ten years.
Australia鈥檚 national vaccine regulator checks the safety of whooping cough vaccines聽. Ongoing monitoring over many years shows these vaccines are safe and continue to protect people of all ages.
But low immunisation rates among children and adolescents remain a concern, with聽聽showing Australia鈥檚 2024-25 childhood immunisation rate was the lowest in a decade.
Only about one-fifth of adults 50 years and older are聽聽with the whooping cough vaccine. This means they have had a booster within the last ten years.
Why are there so many cases right now?
Whooping cough is a challenging disease to control because immunity, acquired through immunisation or natural infection,聽. This gives rise to whooping cough epidemics every two to three years.
Whooping cough is most commonly diagnosed using PCR testing of a throat swab. This usually involves visiting a GP to get the swab sent to a lab, and then waiting for the results. This method has been聽聽since the early 2000s.
In 2024, 57,257 whooping cough cases聽聽in Australia. This included a case where a child with an antibiotic-resistant infection required聽.
This represents the highest notification rate since records began in 1991. And it reflects a true increase in the prevalence, as well as awareness and testing, of whooping cough.
罢丑别听聽was likely due, at least in part, to COVID public health restrictions which disrupted the usual epidemic cycle.
During this time, many children didn鈥檛 get the normal immune 鈥渂oost鈥 after being vaccinated and exposed to the bacteria. This left them more vulnerable to infection, particularly when authorities lifted social distancing restrictions.
Whooping cough was also聽聽with 25,256 cases reported that year. All age groups were affected, but notification rates were highest among school-aged and preschool-aged children.
Unfortunately, whooping cough isn鈥檛 going away anytime soon. However, timely vaccination across all ages is vital to curb its spread and protect vulnerable populations.
Manual Name : Archana Koirala
Manual Description : Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist; Clinical Researcher, 爆料王
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