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County reports case of pertussis

Whooping cough on rise in Colorado

La Plata County has recorded its fifth case of whooping cough this year.

An infant tested positive for pertussis, the highly contagious bacterial disease, characterized by uncontrollable violent coughing, the San Juan Basin Health Department said in a news release Tuesday.

The state as a whole is experiencing an extremely high number of pertussis cases, the release said. In the first half of the year, 763 cases were recorded, compared with a five-year average of 119.

The five-year annual average for Southwest Colorado (La Plata, Archuleta, Montezuma, San Juan and Dolores counties) is five, said Bari Wagner, a nurse epidemiologist at the health department.

Dr. Rachel Herlihy, an epidemiologist and deputy director for the state public health department’s Division of Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology, said there are a couple of reasons for the high number of pertussis cases last year and the first half of 2013.

“Pertussis is cyclical,” Herlihy said. “So since it’s been several years since a peak, maybe we were due.”

A switch from the DTP vaccine to the DTaP vaccine, the protective effects of which lasted for a shorter time, also could account for an increase in cases, Herlihy said.

“The data is imperfect,” Herlihy said, “but we know that children who don’t get vaccinated are seven to eight times more likely to get pertussis.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a protective circle around a baby by ensuring that pregnant women, parents, siblings, grandparents and caregivers are up to date with their pertussis vaccination, Wagner said.

Pertussis is most common among infants and young children. It can be fatal in babies younger than 1 year old.

As a result of the outbreak of pertussis in the state, San Juan Basin Health is making federally supported Tdap vaccines available to people 19 and older regardless of insurance status, Wagner said. A donation of $21.65 is recommended to help cover the cost, but no one will be turned away, she said.

Tdap vaccines protect against pertussis as well as tetanus.

daler@durangoherald.com



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