Following a higher-than-normal incidence of whooping cough on the Coast, health officials are encouraging people with symptoms to visit their doctors, and reminding parents to have their babies immunized.
Six unrelated cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, have been confirmed on the Sunshine Coast, according to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH).
"It's activity above normal, so that's a concern, but it's not a grave concern," said Sunshine Coast medical health officer Dr. Paul Martiquet. "We've noticed a signal that there's a greater than normal activity of pertussis in the community and we just want to make sure that everyone's protected."
According to VCH, whooping cough starts like a common cold, and involves sneezing, a runny nose, a low-grade fever and a mild cough. Over the next week or two, the cough worsens, and involves severe coughing spells that often end with a "whoop." The disease spreads through coughing and sneezing and is a particular threat, Martiquet said, for pregnant woman in their last trimester and children under the age of one.
Occasionally, he said, the disease can be fatal.
"It's a rare occurrence, but it's a slight possibility so why put anybody at risk?" he said.
Babies, Martiquet said, should be immunized at two, four, six and 18 months. Currently, vaccination rates on the Coast are at about 85 per cent -a figure he'd like to see rise to 95 per cent.
"I think what happens is that parents forget that pertussis can be fatal and that their kids can be protected from it just by a simple, safe immunization," he said. "And so if they know it's in the community it might trigger them to think twice and go in and have their kids brought up to date with the vaccine."
According to VCH, the risk of catching whooping cough increases when people have had face-to-face exposure for five minutes or more with an infected person, or shared confined air space for an hour or more. If infected, it takes seven to 10 days to develop symptoms. Once coughing spells start, somebody with the disease is infectious for up to three weeks.
