Whooping cough case keeps dozens of Ogden students out of school

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OGDEN — About 60 junior high school students in Ogden are staying home from school because of whooping cough. School officials don't want the highly contagious disease spreading to others, especially because it can be fatal for infants.

Those students from Mount Ogden Jr. High School stayed home because their parents didn't show the school up to date immunization records, which is now state law before going into junior high.

Whooping cough symptoms

The symptoms of whooping cough usually occur in two stages:

First stage
Runny nose
sneezing
Possibly low-grade fever
Second stage
Uncontrolled coughing spells or fits
Possible whooping noise when child breathes in
Can last for 6-10 weeks

If your child has these symptoms keep them home and contact your health care provider.

The school's principal, Clyde Moore, said he has 933 students in his school and loves every single one of them. "I've been here for a while, so I've gotten to know a lot of the kids," he said.

So when one got sick with the whooping cough recently, and about 60 others at the school stayed home so they wouldn't get sick, Moore felt sad.

"It hurts, but you want to take care of the situation and get them home where they can be safe and taken care of that way," Moore said.

It can be tough to take care of a child with the whooping cough. It's a highly contagious illness and can cause other problems.

"It really is a big deal," said Gwen Kinney, an epidemiologist with the Weber-Morgan Health Department. "They call it ‘the 100 days cough' because it lasts such a long time, with that incredible whooping sound."

Kinney says the one student at the school with whooping cough wasn't vaccinated because the student's parents don't believe in vaccinations. For whatever reason, she sees this all the time.

"I think parents get on the Internet and there are some spooky sites they can go to with a lot of terrible information," she said.

Kinney says once a child gets sick, all they can do is treat them. If they were vaccinated, it could have prevented the disease all-together.

Meanwhile, the unvaccinated students at Mount Ogden Jr. High are getting their work sent home. But their principal says he's just looking forward to having them come back.

"Our concern, when something like this happens, is their safety and their health," Moore said. Symptoms in the first stage of the whooping cough include a runny nose, sneezing and a possible fever. The second stage, which is more serious, can be uncontrolled coughing spells and noise when child breathes in. That can last for 6 to 10 weeks.

Kinney says to be safe, just bring your child in to a doctor if you think they're getting sick.

Email: acabrero@ksl.com