By Glenn Hicks

Whooping cough and respiratory illness on the rise

Sep 30, 2017 | 8:00 AM

Health officials are reporting an increase in cases of whooping cough and other respiratory illness across the region.

Precise figures were not immediately available but Dr. Khami Chokani, the medical health officer for the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region, told paNOW unusual environmental conditions were helping germs spread. 

Whooping cough, he said, is normally quiet in the summer months but was more present than normal this year, adding the warm days and big temperature drops at night are also a germ spreading factor.

“That allows for these organisms to enjoy themselves and be able to move,” Chokani said. “They multiply during the warm days and then when it gets cold at night people get close to one another.”

A whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease marked by the “whoop” sound when taking a breath during coughing. It mainly affects children too young to have completed the full course of vaccinations and teenagers and adults whose immunity is low.

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However, Chokani said because the “whoop” can take a week to develop some people who have not been immunized think they just have a nasty cough. 

With students returning to school and people gathering for sports registrations, for example, this creates a prime environment for the disease to spread, he said, stressing the need for immunization.

“If you can offer that herd immunity it can protect those around you who don’t have the immunity,” he said. “Those people are relying on you to get immunized to offer them that protection.”

Chokani did not have data on the number of people admitted to hospital or ER rooms for the illness, nor if there had been any deaths, but said the disease can get serious very quickly.

“Someone can wake up with a nasty cough in the morning and become so breathless by the evening they require oxygen and hospitalization,” he said.

Alongside immunization, Chokani stressed some fundamental but vital basics.

“Cover your cough, wash your hands regularly and stay indoors, unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out, don’t socialize.”

Glenn.Hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow