Sixteen cases of whooping cough confirmed in South Zone and ‘many more out there’: AHS

“If there’s 16 cases that we have confirmed there are probably, or we suspect, there are many more out there and this is what we’ve seen in other years,” Suttorp said this morning. “So as with COVID we try to look at are there linkages between cases; so epidemiological linkages, and if there’ s linkages. If there’s not an immediate link we know that somehow they’re all Alberta acquired right, so we know that there’s more disease out there.”

Whooping cough has an incubation period of up to 21 days before someone is sick, with an average of about 10 days, Suttorp says, and people can be infectious for 21 days.

Though early symptoms of whooping cough could be mistaken for a cold or the flu, the cough becomes more severe over a week and persist for many weeks or months after. In younger children coughing spells are normally followed by a distinctive “whooping” sound when inhaling. That sound is not always present in adults.

She says whooping cough is particularly dangerous for infants under two years old. Alberta offers the vaccine free to all children under 18 years old, those in the third trimester of pregnancy and anyone who hasn’t had a tetanus booster in the past 10 years.

“Pertussis or whooping cough is preventable. Vaccine is safe, it’s effective and it prevents disease,” Suttorp said.

Previous whooping cough outbreaks happened in the South Zone in 2008, 2012-13 and 2017. Suttorp said there are typically outbreaks every three to five years in communities with low immunization rates.

According to Alberta Health’s Interactive Health Data Application, the coverage rate for a full four-dose schedule of vaccination for whooping cough for infants under the age of two in the County of Forty Mile has dropped from 63 per cent in 2008 to 32 per cent in 2021, the last year for which data is available.

The downward trend in vaccine uptake is not limited to whooping cough and is being experienced with other communicable diseases.

“Vaccine hesitancy is truly the term that we utilize and it’s a spectrum of different beliefs, opinions around immunization and so it’s not just one item, not just pandemic,” said Suttorp.

She says there are many different drivers for the decrease in immunization including complacency, lack of access and trust.

“Trust of vaccine, trust of provider, etcetera,” she said. “Under trust is also information. The internet and social media are amazing; they have excellent information but a lot of misinformation and very, very difficult to navigate. So I think that trust piece, I lump in there all those aspects of trust in vaccines, trust in providers and then also what is actually the truth.”

Pertussis or whooping cough is preventable. Vaccine is safe, it’s effective and it prevents disease. _{-Dr. Vivien Suttorp}

AHS is reminding residents to stay up to date on their immunizations. Anyone who is uncertain of their child’s or their own immunization history can contact their local community health centre or public health office. See Alberta’s Routine Childhood Immunization schedule for more information.

Anyone who thinks they may be sick with pertussis, should stay home and call a family physician or Health Link at 811, before seeking medical care. People with confirmed pertussis should stay home until five days of treatment with appropriate antibiotics have been completed.

Alberta Health Services says information on pertussis and immunizations can be found online at the following links:

by Chris Brown

Sixteen cases of whooping cough confirmed in South Zone and ‘many more out there’: AHS

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