Hollister
– The extremely contagious illness whooping cough has struck San
Benito County for the first time in years.
Hollister – The extremely contagious illness whooping cough has struck San Benito County for the first time in years.
Five cases of whooping cough – also known as pertussis – have been reported here within the past month, leading to a health alert issued this week by the county Department of Health and Human Services.
“The numbers aren’t huge, but we’re thinking there’s a lot of people out there who are not diagnosed,” said Kathy Boulware, the supervising public health nurse in charge of communicable diseases for the county. “We sent a community alert just to raise people’s consciousness.”
Despite the severe and persistent cough that accompanies the illness, whooping cough often goes undiagnosed, or is misidentified as a bad cold, Boulware said.
Many people believe they are immune to the disease because they were vaccinated as children, but this immunity wanes after five years, she said.
Boulware said the five diagnosed cases in the county over the past month is the largest number of reported incidences in San Benito County in many years.
Santa Cruz County recently reported a larger outbreak of whooping cough, and a school there was even shut down temporarily. The outbreak in a neighboring county is a concern to local health officials.
“It doesn’t stop at county lines,” Boulware said.
At least one student at San Benito High School has tested positive for the illness. Assistant Principal Duane Morgan said the school has notified parents that their children may have been exposed to whooping cough, and informing them of the symptoms.
Whooping cough is extremely communicable, but is most dangerous in unimmunized children and infants, where it can be fatal.
The disease can be treated with antibiotics, but if it goes untreated in adults, it will usually run its course – although this can take up to 10 weeks.
If untreated, the individual can remain contagious for up to five weeks, Boulware said.
Alice Joy covers education and health for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
