CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Ohio is reporting more whooping cough cases this year than any other state in the country, according to national data.
Ohio has reported 521 cases of the disease through Sept. 30, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 145 cases were reported in Ohio last year.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a high infectious bacterial disease. It’s most serious for babies and young children.
Symptoms usually develop within five to ten days after contact with the bacteria that causes whooping cough. Those symptoms can last up to two weeks.
They include runny or stuffed nose, low-grade fever and cough, so they are sometimes confused with the common cold. More serious symptoms can include life-threatening pauses in breathing and turning blue or purple.
Antibiotics are used for treatment.
Dr. Steve Feagins said Ohio’s high numbers are due to higher numbers of testing for cases in the five pediatric hospitals in the state.
Since whooping cough can lead to breathing problems, people young or old should alert their doctor if the cough doesn’t go away.
It’s part of what doctors are seeing right now during respiratory season.
“The good thing about sort of respiratory season is you know you are going to be busy, you know you are going to need so much oxygen, ventilator support, things like that, and for the last three years we have learned how to do that even better,” said Dr. Feagins, medical director of Hamilton County Public Health.
The CDC recommends vaccination as the best way to protect against whooping cough.
