Vials of Tdap vaccinations sit on a table during the Solano County health fair on Aug. 11, 2010, in Vallejo, Calif. Cases of whooping cough — which is preventable with a Tdap vaccine — were reported in Putnam and Cabell counties this week.
(Justin Sullivan | Getty Images)
An infectious disease specialist on Thursday called a few cases of a rare, vaccine-preventable respiratory illness in Cabell and Putnam counties “a wakeup call” for what could happen if West Virginia’s immunization rates decline.
At least four cases of pertussis, also called whooping cough, have been reported in Putnam County, and additional cases were reported in Cabell County and in Lawrence County, Ohio, according to a memo to medical professionals dated Wednesday from Marshall Health and the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital in Huntington. The memo was circulated Wednesday on the social media platform Facebook. A spokeswoman for Marshall Health confirmed that the memo was correct.
The outbreaks were reported days after West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced an executive order changing the state’s strong immunization requirements for school-age children to allow exemptions for families who object to the shots because of religious reasons.
“[The timing] is coincidental, but I do think it’s a good wakeup call,” Dr. Mariana Lanata, a pediatrician and an infectious disease specialist with Marshall Health, said Thursday.
“Pertussis cases are very uncommon because we do have effective vaccines,” said said. “We have great vaccine policies in the state. This will become more prevalent and more problematic if our vaccination rates decrease. If that happens, then our cases can be more severe because you have less immunity in the community, so it can become more prevalent.”
Morrisey’s order requires the state health officer and the commissioner for the Bureau for Public Health to submit a plan and any proposed legislation to facilitate religious and moral exemptions to the state’s school vaccination requirements by Feb. 1.
Every state requires school students to be vaccinated for certain infectious diseases, including pertussis. Until this year, West Virginia was among five other states that allow only medical exemptions to those vaccine requirements. Health officials have credited the state’s strong vaccination policy and high vaccination rates as reasons the state has not seen outbreaks of measles that other state’s have.
During the 2023-2024 school year, 98% of West Virginia’s kindergarten students were vaccinated for pertussis, compared to 92% nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Putnam County Health Officer Dr. Samia Turner did not confirm how many cases had been reported, but said the number was more than the number that’s typical for this time of year. The county sees up to a few cases of the illness each year, she said.
“I will say, in general, across the country, we are seeing a rise in pertussis, which we think may be due to less robust vaccination,” Turner said.
Turner said she could not confirm any identifying information about the people who have whooping cough, including their ages. She said the cases in Putnam County seem to be between close contacts of one another. Emails to the Cabell County Health Department and to the state Department of Health about the cases were not immediately returned Thursday.
The health department will reach people who have been around people who were exposed to the illness, Turner said, and recommend they see a physician and be treated with an antibiotic if necessary.
Whooping cough, like other respiratory illnesses, initially starts out with congestion and a general feeling of unwell, followed by a progression into a chronic cough, Lanata said.
“It was called before the 100-days cough,” she said. “But in smaller kids, it has a classic whoop. The small babies have just a constant cough. And it’s really heartbreaking to see, because they really can’t breathe. They cough, cough, cough, and eventually, when they’re trying to catch their breath, they do this [whoop], and that’s where the whoop comes.”
While the disease is treated with antibiotics, babies in particular can get severely ill and even die from whooping cough, she said.
“[Babies] end up in the hospital and usually in the intensive care unit,” she said. “And once they’re sick, there really is nothing we can do to change the outcome. We just have to help them breathe until it resolves. So imagine a hundred days of your baby coughing and not being able to breathe.”
Mothers are typically offered a booster shot for pertussis in their second trimester of pregnancy to increase their immunity to protect their babies, she said.
To prevent getting whooping cough, Lanata recommends making sure that people are up to date on their DTaP or Tdap vaccines, which are both formulations of vaccines that help protect against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
“That’s the best way to prevent it, getting your immunity up,” she said.
People who have a lingering cough should see a physician and get tested for pertussis, Lanata said. People who are positive for the illness can get antibiotics that will help prevent it from being spread to others, she said.
Both parents of newborns as well as anyone in close contact with the child should be up to date on their vaccine, she said.
Lanata said there’s no reason to panic about the few cases of the illness that have been reported.
“I understand that that document caused a lot of concern in the community because it was out of context,” she said. “I just want every parent out there to know that if they’re worried about their kids, there’s things they can do.”
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