CDC data reveals why everyone around you is coughing

Whooping cough, also known as whooping cough, is making a comeback that no one asked for. Recent federal data shows that cases of the vaccine-preventable disease this year are at their highest levels in a decade.

As of December 14, there were 32,085 cases of whooping cough I mentioned to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year. This is a five-fold increase from the number recorded in 2023, which saw only about 6,500 cases. Experts say several factors are responsible for this increase, including low vaccination rates.

Whooping cough Caused by bacteria Bordetella Whooping cough. The infection typically causes respiratory symptoms, most notably the coughing fits that inspired its nickname (“whooping” refers to the noise people often make when trying to breathe after coughing). Although whooping cough is usually mild in adults, the infection can be more serious in young children or other vulnerable populations, such as people with weakened immune systems.

While the first whooping cough vaccine was invented More than a century agoIt was not recommended for widespread use until the late 1940s, when it was combined with tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. The combination shot has been a mainstay of vaccination programs in the United States ever since, and has helped significantly reduce the burden of pertussis. Before mass vaccination, for example, there were between 100,000 and 300,000 cases of whooping cough. It is reported annually In the United States

Since 2000, the United States has had tens of thousands of reported cases of pertussis annually. But as with many infectious diseases, the COVID-19 pandemic has indirectly reduced the spread of whooping cough, thanks in part to people practicing social distancing. As the social mores of the world and people have largely returned to normal, infection rates of these diseases have also risen. So at least part of the spike in cases this year could simply be a return to pre-pandemic trends. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, this year’s toll is unusually high for the modern era. This is the highest number of cases since 2014, when there were 32,971 cases. In some states, experts and health officials have done just that Blame Low vaccination rates among the population and their children to rise.

Another important factor relates to the vaccine itself. In the United States and many other countries, people have switched to a newer, different form of the pertussis vaccine. While this The vaccine is safer Of the older whole-cell version, evidence has shown that it generally provides less immediate and sustained protection from pertussis. As a result of this switch, Experts argued Future pertussis outbreaks are likely to be larger when they occur.

However, vaccination remains the most important tool for controlling whooping cough, and the fewer people are vaccinated against it, the greater the risk of a sustained outbreak. Worldwide – especially in countries with low vaccination coverage – whooping cough Reasons 24 million cases of infection annually, in addition to 161 thousand deaths among children under the age of five every year.

In the United States, about 80% of children under the age of 2 suffer from it receive For the full recommended series of DTaP shots, 90% of teens have received at least one dose of Tdap vaccine, and only 43% of adults over 18 have received a Tdap shot in the past 10 years (booster doses are recommended every decade).