Whooping cough resurges in Kane County with 92 cases so far this year

Whooping cough starts as a typical cold, with a runny nose, a little cough, a low-grade fever.

It then develops into coughing so severe, sufferers – usually babies and children – gasp for air, their struggle to breathe becoming the telltale “whoop” of its name. Babies can turn blue from cyanosis – lack of oxygen – as they strain to breathe.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is one of the diseases health departments track and report to state health departments, and then ultimately to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Despite dropping to zero cases in 2021, one in 2022 and 16 in 2023, this year’s tally in Kane County is at 92, nearing 2012 levels, according to the Kane County Health Department tracking data.

“One thing with pertussis is that it’s cyclical,” said Uche Onwuta, director of the county’s Health Protection Division. “Every few years, we see an increase.”

The increase in Kane County is not unusual, as all surrounding counties are seeing the same thing, she said.

“Nationally, we are seeing a spike in pertussis as well,” Onwuta said. “Definitely now we are seeing more medical providers identifying pertussis and testing more. ... It’s not unusual to have peaks and valleys with pertussis. We’ve seen that over the years.”

The CDC reported that in 2022 Illinois had 2,388 cases and in 2023, it had 5,611.

Doctors test the sputum and blood to confirm the diagnosis. Getting a quick diagnosis not only allows for treatment with antibiotics, but makes it easier for health officials to track others who may have been exposed to it, she said.

“That way, we can identify the close contacts and those who are high risk and getting them to treatment post exposure – prophylaxis treatment,” Onwuta said.

That is, they would start a course of antibiotics to head off a full-blown infection.

Both Tdap and DTaP vaccines help protect against the same diseases – tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis – though they are for different age groups. DTaP is for infants and young children while Tdap is for older children and adults.

The DTaP vaccine – which contains diphtheria and tetanus toxoids, and pertussis antigens – is given in five doses to babies at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years.

“People have reasons for not vaccinating, but it should not be taken lightly,” Onwuta said. “Vaccination has been shown to be effective for most preventable diseases.”

Vaccines are not 100% effective, but a person who was vaccinated would have milder symptoms, according to the health department. Also, immunity wanes over time.

Bordetella pertussis

A bacterium known as Bordetella pertussis, Latin for “intensive cough,” causes whooping cough.

The highly contagious bacteria spreads through the air and attaches to the cilia of respiratory cells. These cells line the respiratory system from the mouth to the lungs, their purpose to clean microbes and debris out of a person’s airways.

The bacteria’s toxins paralyze these cells, bringing on bursts of coughing as the body struggles to rid itself of mucus. The gasping for breath at the end of coughing attacks is the characteristic high-pitched whoop.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, French physician Guillaume de Baillou first described it in 1578. He is known as the founder of modern epidemiology, the study of why diseases and other health conditions happen in populations and how to prevent them.

It would be more than 300 years before scientist Jules Bordet and bacteriologist Octave Gengou – both Belgians – would observe the egg-shaped bacterium that came to be known as Bordetella pertussis in 1906, according to the CDC.

Before the availability of the pertussis vaccine in the 1940s, more than 200,000 cases were reported in the U.S. every year. The vaccine decreased its incidence more than 75%.

Worldwide, more than 24 million new cases occurred in children younger than 5 in 2014 and caused an estimate 160,700 deaths.

From 2000 to 2017, 307 children died in the U.S., most of them babies under 2 months old, according to the CDC.

Full recovery from whooping cough can take up to six weeks.

‘You can hear the whoop’

Onwuta said she has never witnessed whooping cough herself.

“I have heard them over the phone when we call them to do a case investigation,” Onwuta said. “You can hear the whoop.”

Vaccines are readily available at doctors’ offices and drug stores – and at the health department for those who qualify for low-income service.

In addition to babies and children being vaccinated, Onwuta said it is especially important for pregnant women to be vaccinated at 27 to 36 weeks to protect the baby.

The immunity is passed on to protect the baby until he or she receives the first vaccination at 2 months.

Also those who will be in close contact with the baby should get the booster shot, Onwutoa said.

“Even grandparents,” Onwuta said. “When my grandson was born, I was told, ‘Mom, you need to get the Tdap.’”

St. Charles resident Ann Seckel got the Tdap for each of the last three of her four children.

“My oldest was a newborn in 2006, when there was the first big outbreak at New Trier,” Seckel wrote in an email. “We lived in Morton Grove. ... There was a lot of worry for young babies and they started a separate waiting room for well visits to keep babies too young to be vaccinated safer.”

By the time Seckl had her second child, it was recommended that adults in close contact with the baby get the Tdap booster shot.

Which she did.

After moving to St. Charles, Seckel had her third and fourth babies and got vaccinated in the third trimester for both, she wrote.

“I think it’s important to do what we can to protect our most vulnerable babies by following the recommendations of health care professionals,” Seckel said.