Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a potentially fatal respiratory infection that causes such severe coughing it’s been known to fracture people’s ribs. Recovery from coughing fits creates the ‘whooping’ sound in the chest.
Reported cases have surged in recent months, more than doubling since mid-September, according to government data. At the same time, walking pneumonia infections among toddlers have jumped seven-fold since March, and doubled among older children.
The CDC confirmed more than 32,000 cases of whooping cough in 2024, a massive increase from the 6,500 cases confirmed in 2023.
Similarly the CDC reported that walking pneumonia cases increased across all age groups in the US from March to October 2024, peaking in August.
The largest rise was in children, with rates jumping from one percent to more than seven percent in ages two to four and from nearly four percent to 7.4 percent in ages five to 17.
Approximately a quarter of whooping cough cases have been recorded in Midwest states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania currently leads the nation with the highest number of reported cases.
Public health officials have come to expect spikes in pertussis cases every few years, but the Covid pandemic, during which millions of people were isolated and shielded from other infectious diseases, offered a rare respite.
Now, trends suggest whooping cough levels are returning to pre-pandemic levels, all while childhood vaccination rates have shown signs of falling.
The vaccination rate among kindergarteners was about 92 percent for the 2023-2024 school year, below the 93 percent coverage for the previous year. And the exemption rate for kindergartners increased to 3.3 percent, the highest ever reported in the US.
The infection can be fatal, but rarely so. Fewer than 20 people on average die of pertussis annually.
At the same time, parents and pediatricians nationwide are reporting upticks in walking pneumonia, a bacterial infection that can cause excessive coughing, but normally does not leave patients unable to carry out their daily tasks.
The rapid spread of walking pneumonia, or mycoplasma pneumonia, is believed to be due to its mild initial symptoms — such as a cough and slight breathlessness — allowing people to spread the infection while remaining active and walking around.
But it can be severe for infants and children. It has led to more children being hospitalized, which experts say may be linked to Covid lockdowns blocking children’s exposure to good germs and, as a result, weakening their immune systems.
In addition to increased hospitalizations due to mycoplasma pneumonia among children, the CDC has reported a rise in infections across all age groups.
Firm figures are hard to come by, though, because there is no national reporting or surveillance system for mycoplasma pneumonia infections.
Whooping cough can be a serious infection for people of all ages, but infants under a year old are particularly susceptible due to their underdeveloped immune systems.
In addition to causing severe, sometimes rib-cracking coughs, pertussis leads to fevers, congestion, a whooping sound when inhaling, vomiting, fatigue, and sore throat.
