A whooping cough outbreak began last month in Snohomish County.
Twelve different schools and a child care center reported whooping cough in the past five weeks, the Snohomish County Health Department said. This past week, Cascade View Elementary in Snohomish was one of the latest. A health department spokeswoman said Cascade View had multiple cases.
Other cases have been noted at Frank Wagner Elementary in Monroe and Cascade High School in Everett. These encompass about 20 students, plus adult cases, the health department said.
Whooping cough is formally known as pertussis, and is from a bacteria. Pertussis is harmful to adults, but can be deadly to infants.
Dr. James Lewis, the county Health Officer, said it’s concerning that 84% of the cases are among unvaccinated children in the 0-to-4 age range. Among student-age cases, 85% have been vaccinated, Lewis said.
The respiratory infection is noticeable from experiencing intense coughing fits and the need to inhale that leads to a high whoop sound.
The starting signs can be a runny nose, sneezing and a sore throat.
Early-age children are recommended to get a series of dTap shots.
Boosters called the Tdap (tetanus, diptheria and pertussis) shot are recommended around age 11. Immunity fades over time, and health officials recommend adults should get a Tdap booster every 10 years. Adults who are around children particularly should be up on their booster, according to an infectious diseases expert from the Mayo Clinic quoted by AARP’s online website.
Availability has grown: Tdap shots are now commonly available at in-store clinics at pharmacies and more.
The adult Tdap is a relatively new development from about 20 years ago. Previously, health officials said there were many people who had the misconception their tetanus shot included whooping cough.
Of the student cases, “we do know that their infectiousness and severity of disease are attenuated because of their vaccination status,” Lewis said.
Statewide, whooping cough cases have increased since January 2024, but the cases accelerated past the official epidemic status last summer. It last crossed the threshold in 2015, and there was a full outbreak in 2012. The cumulative number of new cases in the past few months has been dropping since about October, according to a chart at the Department of Health.
Snohomish County has seen 98 cases of whooping cough so far as of March 29. That’s more cases of pertussis than what the state saw as a whole in 2023.
This year’s statewide total is 742 cases through March 29; of those, 592 cases were youths. More than 200 of the cases statewide were of children four years old or younger, including 52 infants. A majority of those infants were old enough to be vaccinated, the state’s health agency notes.
