CDC: 17 US babies died from whooping cough in 2000

Last Updated: 2002-07-18 16:34:54 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A total of 17 infants died in the US in the year 2000 after contracting whooping cough, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is caused by infection with the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. Symptoms of whooping cough include having a cough lasting 14 or more days accompanied by a gasping sound or "whoop" while coughing. Children may also vomit or have difficulty breathing during a coughing spell.

Until the advent of the pertussis vaccine in the late 1940s, the respiratory illness was a major cause of illness and death, especially among infants and small children. Since the introduction of the vaccine--now given as part of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTaP) combo vaccine--rates for whooping cough have dropped dramatically in the developed world.

All of the infants who died in 2000 became sick before 4 months of age--too young to have been administered three doses of DTaP vaccine, according to the CDC's report published in the July 19th issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Infants normally receive the first three doses of the vaccine at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, with a fourth dose given at 15 to 18 months, and a final, fifth dose given as the child reaches 4 to 6 years of age.

In their current report, the CDC highlights the deaths of two infants, one aged 3 months in Colorado, and another, aged 3 weeks, in Texas.

"The two cases described in this report illustrate that pertussis can be fatal despite broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy, specific therapy for pertussis, and supportive interventions," the CDC writes.

Moreover, the CDC emphasizes that "caregivers should minimize exposure of vulnerable infants to any persons with respiratory illness."

In the two reported cases, family members reported "a cough illness" several weeks before the onset of the infants cough and subsequent illness.

While the number of pertussis cases has tended to be more stable among children old enough to be vaccinated, the CDC reports that between 1980 and 1998, "the average annual incidence of reported pertussis cases and deaths among US infants increased 50%."

As a result, the CDC and academic researchers "are initiating studies to identify the risk factors for severe and fatal pertussis."

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2002;51:616-618.

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