Whooping Cough Spreads in Chicago

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/10/health/10COUG.html

Whooping Cough Spreads in Chicago

By REUTERS

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — An outbreak of whooping cough has sickened 24 adults around Chicago, health officials reported today, saying the ailment is making a comeback in the United States.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, can make small children and infants seriously ill and once killed 9,000 people a year.

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Relatively benign in adults, it can cause high fever and pneumonia in babies. Infants now routinely receive a combined pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus vaccine. But immunity wears off by the time a child becomes a teenager.

Last year, 8,296 cases were reported, the highest number since 1967, said Dr. Gregory Huhn, an epidemiologist with the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Dr. Huhn and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on 24 cases of whooping cough among workers at an oil refinery in the Chicago area and among people living nearby.


 

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