‘Highly contagious’: Mass. health officials tracking increases in whooping cough, pneumonia

State health officials are monitoring increasing cases of whooping cough and pneumonia.

Children and adolescents are primarily affected by those bacterial respiratory illnesses, Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said Wednesday as he urged clinicians and families to be on the lookout for potential symptoms.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a “highly contagious acute respiratory illness” that starts with mild symptoms, Goldstein said. Infected individuals later develop a severe cough that can be followed by vomiting, he said.

“Following a significant decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of pertussis in Massachusetts are increasing to pre-pandemic levels, particularly among adolescents,” Goldstein told the Public Health Council Wednesday morning. He added, “Importantly, pertussis is vaccine preventable. Everyone should be up to date with their pertussis vaccine to prevent disease.”

Parents with young children say they’ll be looking out for any symptoms.

“I try not to let it stress me out too much. I think they’re still going to go to preschool,” said Chloe Wagen. “They’re still going to play with friends. Hopefully, they don’t get sick.”

She is the mother of a 1 and 3-year-old. She says it’s tough to protect them from getting sick during the colder months.

“We don’t want sick kids. It sucks but it happens. They get sick every winter no matter what we do,” Wagen said.

Dr. Shira Doron, Chief of Infection Control Officer at Tufts Medicine, explains what could be behind an uptick in whooping cough after low levels through the pandemic.

“What happens when you have low levels of a communicable disease is that the communities immunity is low which can be followed in a subsequent year by high levels,” Dr. Doron said.

22,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported in U.S. as of the week ending November 2nd — the highest number of cases year-to-date since 2014.

For babies and very young children the illness can be life threatening. Doron says vaccination is the best way for people to protect themselves and loved ones, along with taking antibiotics to eliminate the contagious period.

She says it may takes week before someone knows they have it because it starts with such mild symptoms.

“If parents were to keep their kids out of school every time they had a cough that persists after an acute infection then kids would definitely miss too much school,” Dr. Doron said.

The Department of Public Health is also watching the spread of bacteria that can cause walking pneumonia and trigger community outbreaks. Goldstein said symptoms include “persistent” cough, fever, and fatigue, though they can be mild and “do not always require hospitalization.”

“In recent weeks, clinicians in Massachusetts have reported higher than usual number of pneumonia cases, particularly among children and young adults,” Goldstein said. “Syndromic surveillance, using data from hospital emergency department visits, show emergency department visits for pneumonia caused by mycoplasma are at very high levels over the past several weeks.”

As for other respiratory illnesses, Goldstein said COVID-19, the flu, and RSV are at low levels, but warned that cases will rise this winter.

“We’re amplifying the message that getting vaccinated today will benefit you, your family, your friends, and your community in the future,” Goldstein said. “Flu, COVID-19, and RSV can spread fast this time of year as people gather together more often inside, and vaccines significantly cut the risk of getting really sick or being hospitalized from a respiratory illness.”

DPH offers at-home COVID and flu vaccinations for individuals who have difficulty getting the shots at health care or community settings, Goldstein said. DPH also provides free telehealth services for Bay Staters who need a Paxlovid prescription after contracting COVID, he said.

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