The scourge of a preventable disease is roaring back after a pandemic lull, having already hit an annual milestone.
The most recent reliable data from the Pan American Health Organization as of May 31 reported more than 10,000 cases of vaccine-preventable pertussis in the US, otherwise known as whooping cough.
Last year, the number of cases in the last week of May was about 4,800.
While typically less deadly than other vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, whooping cough can be severe, especially among babies and children who have not received the complete five-dose regimen of the DTaP shot spread over the first six years of their lives.
The DTaP regimen begins with the first shot at two months old, the second at four months and a subsequent shot at six months. When babies are between 15 and 18 months old, they get a fourth shot, and the fifth somewhere between four and six years.
Whooping cough causes bouts of coughing so extreme that they can lead to vomiting and broken ribs. Roughly a third of babies who are infected need to be treated in a hospital.
This year so far, five children, four of whom were babies under one, have died, while 10 died all of last year. Children that age have typically received three doses, which, altogether, are about 85 percent effective at preventing disease.
Doctors nationwide are reporting a flurry of new patients being admitted to hospitals with symptoms of pertussis, which, along with a violent cough, can also cause pneumonia, seizures, and brain damage from lack of oxygen.
Whooping cough triggers such severe coughing fits followed by a ‘whooping’ sound in the chest that patients may vomit or even fracture ribs. Nearly one in three infected babies requires hospitalization (stock)
In June, Kentucky officials announced that two babies had died over the previous six months, the first deaths in the state since 2018.
Neither the babies nor their mothers were vaccinated.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, the state reported the first case of the year in June 2025. By the first week of August, there were 13 cases.
‘My hospital, we had no cases in 2023, 13 in 2024, and already this year, and we’re only halfway through the year, we’ve had 27,’ Dr David Weber, Director of the UNC Medical Center’s infection prevention department, told NBC News.
In neighboring South Carolina, 183 cases have been reported compared to 147 this time last year.
‘We’re certainly seeing our vaccine rates decrease, especially post-Covid,’ said Dr Martha Buchanan, a family medicine physician with the South Carolina Department of Health.
‘Unfortunately, I think it’s going to take us some time to recover from that.’
And in Utah, at least 182 cases have been reported so far this year, compared to the five-year average to this point in the year of about 77 cases.
During the 2024-2025 school year, 3.6 percent of kindergarteners were exempted from one or more shots, up from 3.3 percent the year before. Most of the exemptions were among people with certain religious or philosophical views that disagree with vaccination
In Washington County, Utah alone, health officials have reported 28 cases, where the yearly average typically hovers around 10 to 15.
‘I’ve seen admissions, an increased amount of kids that are needing to be hospitalized for it,’ Dr Kerri Smith, a pediatrician at St. George Regional Medical Center, said.
Dr Tim Larsen, a pediatrician at the same medical center who has seen several patients in his outpatient clinic, added: ‘You get to that two-week, three-week mark, and it’s getting worse, not better.
‘There’s at least a way to make the illness more mild when you do get it, and get it treated early. If you suspect whooping cough, bring them into the clinic.’
Experts recommend a booster shot every 10 years for everyone living in or around outbreaks.
The past two years’ month-per-month case counts have coincided with steadily declining rates of vaccination among children.
Slightly over 92 percent of kindergarteners entering the 2024-2025 school year had received the DTaP vaccine, lower than the herd immunity threshold of about 94 percent.
Reaching this threshold requires the vast majority of the population to be vaccinated, resulting in drastically lower odds of the pathogen be able to spread from person to person.
During the 2024-2025 school year, 3.6 percent of kindergarteners were exempted from one or more shots, up from 3.3 percent the year before.
Early signs of whooping cough often look like a common cold. But they worsen to include rib-cracking coughs and wheezing between coughing, as well as vomiting
Exemptions in the 2024-2025 school year increased in 36 states and Washington DC, with 17 states reporting exemptions exceeding five percent.
The majority of exemptions were for non-medical reasons, including for religious reasons and parents’ personal beliefs.
Just 0.2 percent of exemptions were granted for medical reasons, such as as severe allergy, being immunocompromised, or having chronic autoimmune conditions. But a far higher 3.4 percent were granted for religious or philosophical reasons.
About one percent of babies who become sick with whooping cough die from it.
The bacteria Bordetella pertussis is often spread from parents, who may only exhibit cold-like symptoms, to their babies and young children, who are far less equipped to combat it.
Pregnant women are encouraged to get a single dose of TDaP vaccine between the 27 and 36 week marks to boost the level of pertussis antibodies in their blood.
This will protect their newborn babies if they are exposed to the disease before being vaccinated.
Whooping cough is treated with a regimen of antibiotics, which is crucial for killing the bacteria that cause the illness, reducing the severity of the disease and the risk of coming down with pneumonia, and shortening the duration of symptoms.
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