Thanks, anti-vaxxers! Couldn’t have done this without you.
More than 3,500 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, cases have been reported in Texas so far this year, already reaching a 11-year high even though two more highly infectious months are left in the year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The uptick in whooping cough, which is especially contagious in children, has coincided with a decline in vaccination rates for the illness, according to disease experts who urge the best way to control the spread is to get vaccinated. They also say whooping cough tends to spike every few years and that there isn’t a way to completely wipe out the disease.
“We practitioners and public health professionals are concerned because we are seeing a year-after-year trend of a significant increase in cases when this is preventable,” said Hector Ocaranza, a pediatrician and member of the Texas Medical Association’s Council on Science and Health Promotion. “Especially a disease that can have such a severe effect on infants, older people, and those who have chronic conditions.”
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported more than 3,500 cases of whooping cough through October, quadruple the number of cases during the same period last year, which saw a total of 1,907 cases, according to provisional data. The total so far is also 10 times the number of cases for all of 2023. This is the second consecutive year the state’s health agency has had to issue a health alert.
The agency’s most recent alert, published Nov. 3, noted that more than half of last year’s cases occurred in November and December, suggesting whooping cough cases will continue to climb.
Jason Bowling, professor and infectious disease specialist at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio, said this spike is aligning with the holiday season, further increasing the risk of whooping cough spreading.
“Oftentimes parents with a newborn infant don’t feel comfortable telling people to wash their hands or not to visit if they have a cough during the holidays, but they need to feel empowered and comfortable to do that right now,” he said.
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The recent rise in whooping cough in Texas follows a national trend. In 2024, there were more than 35,000 documented cases, a significant jump from 7,063 in 2023. Two babies have died from the disease in Louisiana this year, as well as a child in South Dakota and an adult in Idaho.
Preliminary data from the Texas health agency indicate that approximately 85% of whooping cough cases in Texas this year have occurred in children, but no deaths have been reported.
Not yet, anyway. See here, here, and here for the background. As noted before, this is as predictable as humidity in July. We’ll be able to write a similar version of this story every reporting period from here until who knows when. Remember who brought this to you and why.