Fears of whooping cough returning

A few days old baby has whooping cough.

The Center for Tropical Diseases (National Children's Hospital) is treating a 24-day-old patient in Lang Son with whooping cough.

Through medical history, the family learned that 20 days before being hospitalized, the patient's mother had symptoms of cough, but did not go to the doctor and continued to take care of the child. About 1 week before being hospitalized, the child had a dry cough, no fever. After that, the child had many coughing fits, during which the cough was purple and a lot of white, sticky phlegm was vomited, so the family took the child to the National Children's Hospital for examination and treatment. Here, the doctors took a sample of respiratory fluid for testing. As a result, the child was diagnosed with whooping cough. Currently, after 5 days of treatment, the child's condition has improved significantly, the child's cough has decreased, he can eat and sleep, and is expected to be discharged in the next few days.

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Huong - Head of the Department of Daytime Examination and Treatment, Deputy Director of the Center for Tropical Diseases (National Children's Hospital) said that from the beginning of July 2024 until now, the Center has received nearly 400 children with whooping cough for examination and treatment. Of which, the majority of cases are children under 1 year old who have not been vaccinated or have not received enough doses of vaccine to prevent the disease. Currently, the Center is treating nearly 40 children with whooping cough, including 1 severe patient requiring a ventilator.

According to statistics from the Hanoi Department of Health , last week, there were 7 more cases of whooping cough in the city. Since the beginning of 2024, Hanoi has recorded 200 cases of whooping cough in 29 districts, towns and cities; while there were no cases recorded in the same period last year.

The Center for Disease Control of Thua Thien - Hue province (CDC) said that in the past 2 weeks, the province has recorded 5 more suspected cases of whooping cough, of which 2 cases tested positive, 2 cases were negative and 1 case has not yet had results. Of these 5 cases, 2 cases were confirmed positive: a 3-month-old baby in Huong Thuy town who had been vaccinated against newborn hepatitis B, BCG (tuberculosis vaccine) and a 1-month-old baby in Hue city who had been vaccinated against newborn hepatitis B, BCG.

According to data from the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), up to now, the whole country has recorded 118 cases, an increase of 6.8 times compared to the same period in 2023.

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Huong said: Whooping cough is an acute respiratory infection, commonly found in young children. The disease may start with no fever or a mild fever, with inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, fatigue, loss of appetite and cough. The cough becomes more severe and becomes paroxysmal within 1-2 weeks, lasting 1-2 months or longer. The disease can cause dangerous complications and even death if not detected early and treated promptly.

In addition to the fact that whooping cough has signs and symptoms that are easily confused with other respiratory diseases, especially in infants and young children, another worrying thing is that the disease has a long incubation period, about 1-2 weeks, making it difficult to detect early, while this is an acute infectious disease with a very high potential to spread. For children under 1 year old with whooping cough, the disease progresses very quickly, with a mortality rate of up to 90% in infants.

Why whooping cough "reappears"

Dr. Hoang Minh Duc - Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) - commented: "This is a disease that in the coming time may continue to record a number of new cases, outbreaks, especially in places with low vaccination rates in recent years and also in children who are not yet old enough to be vaccinated."

Whooping cough pathogens are still circulating in the community. Weather changes are favorable for the development of infectious viruses and bacteria. In addition, whooping cough vaccination rates have decreased due to vaccine shortages in recent times, leading to vaccine gaps, reduced community immunity, and increased epidemics.

Previously, when there was no Expanded Immunization Program, whooping cough often appeared and became an epidemic in many localities (3-5 year cycle). During the epidemic, whooping cough often developed seriously, leading to death due to secondary infection, complications of pneumonia, bronchitis - pneumonia. Since whooping cough was included in the Expanded Immunization Program, the incidence and mortality rates have decreased significantly, especially in recent years when the disease rarely appeared.

The Ministry of Health has issued a document requesting provinces and cities to strengthen the prevention and control of whooping cough and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Source: https://laodong.vn/suc-khoe/lo-ngai-benh-ho-ga-quay-tro-lai-1374227.ldo