Brits are being urged to social distance this Christmas by ‘elbow bumping’ relatives instead of hugging them.
A leading virologist advised after new government data suggested cases of whooping cough have risen by 250 percent compared to last year.
Looking at 2023 until late November, data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed 1,141 suspected cases in England and Wales.
This is more than double the 450 for the same period of 2022, and 454 for that period in 2021 – about a 250 per cent increase.
Speaking to The Sun, Prof Richard Tedder, ex-head of the Department of Virology at the University College London (UCL), warned that cases would likely rise further over Christmas as people socialize more than usual.
He said: “People should ensure they are vaccinated and consider using masks to help prevent the spread [of whooping cough].
“They could also adopt the ‘no hugging or kissing’ rule and use their elbows to greet people.” Experts say the rise in cases could be a hangover from restrictions during the Covid pandemic, like mask-wearing and hand hygiene.
Prof Helen Bedford, an expert in child public health at UCL, said: “Whooping cough, like other infections, saw a huge decline due to the public health measures introduced in Covid-19.
“We are now seeing increases in cases of other infections”. Prof Beate Kampmann, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine added: “The rise in cases might be because of missed vaccination appointments, possibly during the pandemic.
“Severe disease is almost entirely preventable if the mother is vaccinated in pregnancy and her protective antibody reaches the baby through the placenta and protects until the baby gets its vaccines.
“It is therefore important that everyone looks at their vaccination records to check if they might have missed this vaccine, which is given with the routine childhood immunizations and in pregnancy.”
The bacterial infection, known as pertussis and the 100-day cough due to its long-lasting symptoms, can cause severe coughing that can lead to vomiting and broken ribs. Before vaccines, pertussis killed thousands of children a year.
Earlier this year, the government urged pregnant women to get the whooping cough vaccine as figures fell to a seven-year low of 61.5 percent uptake.
Coverage for London is particularly low at just 41.4 percent. Babies under six months old with whooping cough have an increased risk of pneumonia and seizures.
The whooping cough vaccine is given alongside five others to babies at eight, 12, and 16 weeks and as part of a four-in-one booster to preschool children aged three years and four months.
