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Back to school and whooping cough in Milwaukee
Nine schools, one university and an after-school childcare program in Milwaukee have reported whooping cough cases since the new school year started last week, according to public health officials.
Monitoring letters are sent to parents and staff when one case of the highly contagious bacterial disease -- technically known as pertussis -- is reported at an institution, said Paul Biedrzycki, director of disease control and environmental health for the Milwaukee Health Department and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Zilber School of Public Health.
Since Aug. 1, an average of 22 cases of whooping cough have been reported weekly, Biedrzycki said Thursday.
"I don't see a rapid rise yet," he said. "I do think we'll see a resurgence in whooping cough, now that students have returned to school."
Nationwide, the U.S. is wrestling with its biggest whooping cough outbreak in decades.
A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a safer pertussis vaccine introduced in the '90s to replace a decades-old vaccine loses effectiveness much faster than previously thought. Researchers found that the risk of getting whooping cough increases by about 42% after a child's last dose of the vaccine, which is given around age 6.
The study speaks to the need for a new vaccine -- a new antigen -- and greater frequency of booster shots until that vaccine is developed, Biedrzycki said. "We need new vaccines in the long-term, repeated boosters in the short-term and sufficient compliance among the public."
A total of 157 probable and confirmed cases of whooping cough have been reported so far this year in Milwaukee, and 414 have been reported in Milwaukee County as a whole, including the city of Milwaukee, Biedrzycki said.
The city's incidence is lower than the county's, in part because of a health care disparity between wealthier suburbs and the city of Milwaukee, he said. The city's rate is 26.2 cases per 100,000 people, while the overall county rate is 43.2 cases per 100,000 people.
"People in the suburbs are more likely to see a doctor and have tests ordered," Biedrzycki said.
Free immunizations are available at the city's health clinics. Special Saturday clinics also have been scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Sept. 29 and Oct. 13. (For more information, visit http://city.milwaukee.gov/immunizations)
Whooping cough, characterized by its violent cough, is most dangerous to infants and toddlers. Public health officials stress that not only should children receive boosters, but adults should get boosters, too, because they spread the illness to young children.
Currently, only about 8% of adults have received the booster, Biedrzcki said.
The Boostrix vaccine approved in 2005 added a pertussis component to the diphtheria and tetanus vaccination given to children around age 12. Middle school booster vaccinations are now required by schools, and anyone else who wants to avoid illness or prevent its spread should seek out the booster vaccine.
Tdap vaccination of preteens, teens and adults - including pregnant women - is especially important for families with infants.