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Suffolk is experiencing its largest whooping cough epidemic in five years with 195 cases investigated thus far by the county health department this year.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is the effect of the Bordetella pertussis microbe, which causes severe coughing, is very contagious, and is sometimes deadly, especially for infants. Antibiotics are used to fight the disease. Vaccines weaken the bacteria, causing less intense symptoms, but do not always prevent the disease. Some people are only 80% protected and the protection disappears over a period of three years.
The outbreak started with just 11 individuals in Smithtown during the spring. Last year, 54 people had the disease and 75 cases were recorded in 2009. Nassau is not as bad, but is still feeling the pinch. So far, 45 cases have been recorded, compared with 27 and 10 in the previous two years.
Health officials posit that one of the reasons this year is experiencing a large number of whooping cough cases is because doctors have been made more aware of the disease and are investigating more when they otherwise would have diagnosed a common cold.
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