Published: Thursday, October 18, 2012 1:06 AM CDT

As the number of whooping cough cases continue to increase, officials across the region are urging parents to make sure they are immunized and that their children are immunized as well.

So far, there have been more than 50 cases of the whooping cough reported in South Dakota as of Oct. 3. However, neighboring states have experienced outbreaks far worse than South Dakota has seen.

So far this year there have been more than 4,000 cases of the cough in Minnesota and Iowa has seen around 1,000 cases. As of late August there were about 120 confirmed cases in Nebraska.

“Based on these numbers, we know we’re seeing a lot of the disease across the region,” said Colleen Winter, director of Health and Medical Services for the South Dakota Department of Health (DOH). “There are a variety of reasons we’ve seen an outbreak. There is more awareness and better testing, more circulation of the disease and some people are building up an immunity to the vaccine.”

The whooping cough vaccine, which is recommended for children, is said to be about 90 percent effective for those that get all the required doses. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is working to discover why the protection seems to decline over time.

“We want to make sure that people get the full course of the vaccine to make sure they are adequately protected,” Winter said. “We want to protect our most vulnerable population, which are babies and infants.”

Winter added that people who are most exposed to the unimmunized population should also be vaccinated. The schedule for children to get vaccinated is recommended at 2 months old, 4 months, 6 months, 15-18 months, then again at 4-6 years old with a booster at 11 or 12.

The DOH provides both the vaccine and the booster free of charge

“The vaccination is the best protection against the cough,” she said. “However, if you get sick, make sure to cover your cough or stay home from work or school.”

Symptoms of the whooping cough include cold-like symptoms at first, but after a week or two they become more severe, including vomiting, fatigue and uncontrollable coughing. When infants are infected with the cough, it can lead to pneumonia, children becoming slow to stop breathing and even death.

Jan Johnson, who works with infection control at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, said she recommends that adults get the whooping cough booster.

“We have not seen many hospitalizations here because of the whooping cough,” she said. “We also have not seen very many cases through our emergency department or the pediatric department here.”

Winter recommends that if you or your child exhibits any symptoms of the cough to call your healthcare provider.

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