Whooping cough cases in Wales show sharp increase
Getty ImagesWhooping cough cases have risen rapidly in Wales in the first few weeks of 2024.
There have already been 135 notified cases so far in January, compared with about 200 in the whole of 2023.
Public Health Wales (PHW) expert Dr Chris Johnson said, from what GPs had been reporting, it appeared to show the start of a relatively large wave.
He has urged all pregnant women and parents of babies and young children to ensure they are vaccinated.
PHW said whooping cough has waves of increased infection every three to four years and notifications had grown sharply in the past few weeks.
Dr Johnson, a consultant epidemiologist, said: "With rates suppressed during the lockdowns of the pandemic we are naturally seeing a resurgence this year."
How many cases are there?
Of the 53 cases notified in the most recent week, 12 were in Pembrokeshire, eight in Flintshire and six in Rhondda Cynon Taf but there were cases also in 12 other council areas.
Only Blaenau Gwent,, Merthyr Tydfil and Monmouthshire have not had any cases notified in the past six weeks.
The last whooping cough peak was in the year before Covid - 2019 - and before that a big surge came in 2012, when notifications averaged 180 a week in the run-up to Christmas.
Cases were four times higher in 2023, compared with the previous two years and this trend was echoed in England too.
Dr Johnson, who heads PHW's vaccine preventable disease programme, added: "Whooping cough is highly contagious and is spread by breathing in small droplets in the air from other people's coughs and sneezes."
Getty ImagesWhat is whooping cough?
Whooping cough is also known as pertussis and is a lung or breathing tube infection, which is contagious.
It can present similarly to a cold initially but lead to coughing bouts, according to the NHS.
The name comes from a "whoop" sound which some sufferers get, when they gasp for breath between coughs and coughing can last for several weeks.
People are recommended to get rest and take plenty of fluids but may be prescribed antibiotics if in the infectious early stages.
What has the vaccination take-up been like?
There has not been an infant death from whooping cough in Wales since vaccinations for pregnant women were introduced in 2013.
The take-up for babies has reached 95% but there has been a very gradual drop-off over the decade.
There has been a slightly more marked drop in recent years to about 70% of pregnant women being vaccinated.
"It's really important, that because we haven't seen in Wales very, very serious or fatal cases for some time, that we don't become complacent and we keep those levels of protection high," said Dr Johnson.
He added babies under six months old were at most risk.
"It can be very serious and lead to pneumonia and permanent brain damage. Young babies with whooping cough are at risk of dying from the disease."
He said vaccine protection passes on to the unborn baby and protected it until the first routine immunisation at two months old.
How can I get vaccinated against it?
- Routine vaccination is included in inoculations for babies and pre-school children
- About half of cases last year in Wales were in the under 19s but it can affect any age
- PHW has urged pregnant women and parents of babies and young children to take up a vaccine offer or contact their GP or health visitor if they think they have not had it
What about other winter illnesses?
Seasonal viruses like flu have been stable so far this winter, although patients testing positive with flu or Covid in hospital have increased a little since the start of December.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) saw a winter peak in November among children - with cases in the community at a high intensity levels and hospital admissions peaking too. But numbers have been declining back to low levels.
The latest sample test for various viruses taken by hundreds of patients attending hospital each week showed about 8% were positive for flu and 12% had Covid.
And what about measles?
With measles, there were nine cases in Wales in 2023, and none in the previous two years - and an outbreak in Cardiff ended in November.
PHW said although cases were low it was important children were protected from it.
"It's very easy to think of them as just like any other childhood illness," said Dr Johnson. "They aren't. Steps have been taken globally to eliminate measles, because it is such a dangerous and highly infectious disease.
"All the vaccines we offer routinely to children especially - but also those we offer to adults such as Covid and flu, they're there because these illnesses are serious, and can result in really unpleasant hospitalisation and death, but they're preventable."