Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Whooping cough cases in Utah County this year already number more than nine times those recorded in the previous two years.
Through the first week of December, county health officials recorded nearly 100 cases of the respiratory infection also known as pertussis. The county totaled 11 cases in each of the previous two years, and dipped as low as four in 2000.
"It's one of those diseases that just kind of fades into the background and then makes a resurgence," said county Health Department spokesman Lance Madigan. "People think about it like polio, or one of those diseases that has gone away, but it never did."
Pertussis rates generally peak every three to four years. The cycle is apparent across Utah, with the state's latest count of 579 cases more than double the total in 2004.
Epidemiologists said a factor may be a new, more sensitive test and intensified awareness among medical practitioners.
"Some of it can be attributed to detection, but it's making a resurgence," Madigan said.
Whooping cough most endangers unvaccinated babies and young children, who can die from complications.
A third of the county's pertussis cases that required hospitalization this year involved children age 2 or younger.
State health policy mandates pertussis vaccinations before kindergarten and now recommends a booster for incoming seventh graders.
People become susceptible again when they get older.
"Adults just think they have a cough that won't go away, so they're going around spreading it to their kids and neighbors," said county immunization coordinator Diane Chipman.
Health officials recommend adults receive a newly available vaccination against pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
