Urgent ‘stay at home’ warning as cases of ‘100-day cough’ surge with 553 infections in one month

HEALTH officials have raised concerns over a rise in the number of cases of whooping cough.

There were 552 confirmed new infections in England in January alone – compared to 858 for the whole of 2023, according to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data.

Of these, more than half (287) were in children 15 or older and almost 30 per cent were in kids aged to 14.

The number of confirmed infections in babies under three months, who are most at risk of severe disease and are too young to be fully vaccinated, increased from two in 2022 to 38 in 2023.

At least 22 fell ill in the first four weeks of 2024.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial infection of the lungs and breathing tubes.

Symptoms are similar to a cold at first, but after about a week patients will get coughing bouts that last for a few minutes and are worse at night.

Young babies may also make a distinctive “whoop” or have difficulty breathing.

The condition spreads very easily and can sometimes cause serious problems, including rib fractures, pneumonia and seizures.

It can last for several months so is often dubbed the ‘100-day cough’.

The UKHSA said that there were low case numbers during the pandemic due to reduced social mixing.

But increasing cases in 2024 come at a time when there has been a steady decline in uptake of the vaccine against whooping cough in pregnant women and children, officials warn.

Parents have been urged to check that their child is protected, and the UKHSA is reminding mums-to-be to get the jab so their babies are protected at birth.

It is offered as part of the six-in-one jab when babies are eight, 12 and 16 weeks old.

The number of two-year-olds who completed their six-in-one vaccinations as of September 2023 is 92.9 per cent, compared with 96.3 per cent in March 2014.

Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, UKHSA consultant epidemiologist, said: “Whooping cough can affect people of all ages but for very young infants, it can be particularly serious.

“However, vaccinating pregnant women is highly effective in protecting babies from birth until they can receive their own vaccines.

“Parents can also help protect their children by ensuring they receive their vaccines at the right time or catching up as soon as possible if they have missed any.

“If you’re unsure, please check your child’s red book or get in touch with your GP surgery.”

Steve Russell, national director for vaccinations and screening at NHS England, said that people can contact their GP to book in a vaccination appointment.

People with symptoms should “ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111”, he added.

Those with confirmed whooping cough are advised to stay at home for 48 hours after starting antibiotics, or three weeks after symptoms start if they have not had antibiotics.

Last week Professor Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UKHSA, said that there have been 21 deaths among babies from whooping cough since 2012.

She told BBC Breakfast: “There are deaths now – so if we talk about whooping cough for example, pertussis, we can’t protect very tiny babies.

“We have a pertussis – whooping cough – vaccination for children, usually at eight, 12 and 16 weeks, but the very tiniest children, the newborns, are the ones who are most impacted and can get very seriously ill, so we need most children to be protected so that they can’t pass it on to their young siblings.

“There’s also a maternal programme and that maternal programme rate has dropped as well – it was introduced in 2012.

“We’ve had 21 neonatal/infant deaths since that time, the last one of which was just at the end of last year. Now most of those individuals, 19 of the 21, were not vaccinated.

“So I think all of the vaccination programmes are there to help people and there are very real current consequences.”