Whooping Cough Cases Rise Across Europe, Asia And Parts Of U.S.

Whooping cough outbreaks are expanding across Europe, Asia and parts of the United States, including Northern California. Since December of last year, cases of whooping cough have risen sharply in the United Kingdom and Europe, in particular. This year’s uptick represents the largest surge since 2012, according to NBC News.

In Europe, the situation is concerning. In the Netherlands, for example, according to the Dutch news service NOS, 1,800 cases of whooping cough were reported in the first two weeks of April, including 50 in babies who are most at risk.

And this year’s aggregate tally thus far is 5,303, which includes 276 babies. Nearly half of the 276 infants were admitted to hospital and four have died. Also, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment reported this week the death of a person with whooping cough who was over 80 years old.

According to the Dutch Institute, the numbers are “very high” compared to previous years. To illustrate, in 2023 there were a total of 2,842 cases of whooping cough for the entire year.

The Dutch Public Health Authority cites as a possible cause of the current outbreak the declining childhood vaccination rate. Public health officials note that when parents do not fully vaccinate their children, the risk of transmission increases.

The Czech Republic has also been hit lately by a “soaring number of whooping cases,” according to Barron’s. The rapidly intensifying outbreak there has already led to three fatalities, health authorities said earlier this week.

The country has registered 7,888 cases of the respiratory illness this year. Last week alone, health authorities recorded 1,494 new cases, which was the fastest weekly growth in 2024. At least 183 patients are currently hospitalized.

Bloomberg News says that in China whooping cough cases surged to over 32,000 in January and February of this year, compared to just 1,400 in all of 2023.

Whooping cough is a very contagious respiratory disease that is spread through small droplets consisting of saliva or mucus and other matter from surfaces of the respiratory tract. Pertussis is highly communicable. Once the disease enters a given household, up to 90% of contacts can become infected.

The disease is caused by bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. These bacteria attach to the cilia, or hair-like extensions, that line part of the upper respiratory system.

The U.K. Health Security Agency describes how the disease typically manifests itself. While the first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to a common cold, after a week or two the characteristic “whooping” cough can develop, a sound that is made when sufferers gasp for breath between coughs. Uncontrolled bouts of intense coughing can last for several minutes, sometimes causing vomiting. Coughing tends to be worse at night. Babies under three months old who are not fully protected through immunization are at the highest risk of developing severe complications.

The illness can inflame young babies’ bronchial tubes, or airways, making it difficult to breathe. The most common complication of an infection is pneumonia, which can be fatal.

Before the introduction of vaccines in the 1940s as many as 9,000 people died in the U.S. from pertussis every year, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. That number diminished to the single digits by 1976, mostly as a result of large-scale immunization campaigns which began in the late 1940s.

And globally, the number of people dying each year from whooping cough was in the hundreds of thousands throughout the last century. Even as recently as 2002, pertussis caused the deaths of approximately 294,000 people worldwide, researchers noted in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, with the largest proportion in Africa. By 2019, mass administration of vaccines brought about a sharp decline in pertussis-related fatalities to around 120,000.

At present, cases of whooping cough in the U.S. in 2024 are still relatively low, but recent clusters have been detected in the San Francisco area. As with the ongoing measles outbreaks the key to prevent or contain the spread of this vaccine-preventable disease is to ensure that parents do not refrain from having their children immunized. The more vaccine hesitancy, the greater the chance that infectious diseases such as whooping cough stage a comeback, as we’re witnessing today in Europe and Asia.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend parents start their children’s vaccine series—which can prevent diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis—beginning at two months old. The series includes four more shots, at four and six months, 15 to 18 months, and four and six years old.