Two Confirmed Cases of Whooping Cough in Rice County

The Rice County Public Health Department on Thursday said there were two confirmed cases of whooping cough in the county.

Whooping cough, medically known as Pertussis, is a disease that affects the lungs, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

According to Rice County Public Health Director Anna Haubrich, more than half of the infants younger than 1 year old who get whooping cough are hospitalized. The young the baby is the greater risk of the need for hospitalization.

In 2010, Rice County had nine cases of whooping cough, according to the MDH. Statewide, there were 1,000 cases. The county had seven cases in 2009 and nine cases in 2008, when the state started seeing an uptick in cases. In 2007, Rice County had five cases of whooping cough—statewide, there were 393 cases.

Whooping cough is spread through the air in droplets produced when an infectious person coughs or sneezes.

For the infants hospitalized because of whooping cough:

• 1 in 5 get pneumonia
• 1 in 100 have convulsions
• Half will have apnea (slowed or stopped breathing)
• 1 in 100 will die

According to the county health department:

For adults, the symptoms of whooping cough are often mild and similar to the common cold. However, some adults develop a very bad cough and can break ribs from coughing.

Children often get more severe symptoms than adults, including:
• Dry irritating cough after a week or two of having cold like symptoms
• Cough can be severe and last over a minute
• After the coughing spell, the child typically makes a whooping sound when breathing in, but not always

Treatment: Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics. You are no longer spreading the disease after five days of antibiotics. Whooping cough is confirmed by a laboratory test and only people who test positive for it should be treated with an antibiotic.

Talk to your health care provider about immunizations for your family. Get a booster (Tdap) at least every 10 years if you are over 10 and younger than 65 You can get a Tdap booster regardless of when you last got one Adults 65 & older and children age 7-10 who aren't fully vaccinated should get a Tdap booster

If you are uninsured or underinsured, or you don’t have a regular health care provider, vaccines are available through Rice County Public Health Nursing Service. For more information or for an appointment, please call Rice County Public Health at 507-332-6111.