Whooping cough erupts in local school

The recent outbreak of whooping cough, which started amongst students that were not immunized at Estes Hills Elementary School, is a rarity in Chapel Hill.

Eight cases had been identified as of Monday.

“At this particular school, we have more students with religious exemptions from immunizations than any other schools,” said Stephanie Knott, spokeswoman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

“The initial cases were among students that had not been immunized.”

Knott said 15 of the 516 students at the school did not have the required immunizations because of religious exemptions.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial infection transmitted through contact with an infected person’s respiratory droplets.

 David Weber, assistant dean of UNC’s department of epidemiology, said that experts estimate there are 1,000,000 cases of whooping cough each year.

UNC Hospitals sees 5 to 15 patients — mostly children — each year with pertussis, Weber said.

“At Estes, these cases are linked. It’s clearly an outbreak, and more than the usual number,” Weber said.

“This is the first outbreak in Chapel Hill that I’m aware of period.”

The first two cases at the school were siblings who had not been immunized, Knott said. Within a couple weeks, six more cases had been diagnosed.

Steps are being taken to prevent further outbreaks. Students and their families are encouraged to update immunizations and practice good hygiene.

Because the symptoms initially resemble those of the common cold — a mild cough and fever or muscle aches — the illness often goes undiagnosed.

In the next few weeks, the symptoms become more serious and the cough intensifies.

The cough can cause vomiting, seizures, restrictive breathing and even death.

After five days of taking antibiotics, however, the disease is no longer contagious. But by the time whooping cough is diagnosed, many people have already been exposed.

The pertussis vaccine is administered to infants as DTaP, and a booster vaccine, Tdap, is available to adolescents and adults, Weber said.

The vaccine is 80 to 90 percent effective but wears off with time.

“It’s a disease that causes serious illness,” Weber said. “We as a whole society need to find a good delivery system for immunizing older children and adults.”

Weber said infants are the most susceptible to the disease, and the best way to prevent spread is to keep adults’ vaccinations up-to-date.

“Most people have been immunized against pertussis,” Donna King, Orange County director of health promotion and education services, said in an e-mail.

“A booster dose of Tdap is required for students when they enter sixth grade.”

After the cases were diagnosed, the school partnered with the Orange County Health Department to send awareness notices to all children who rode the same buses or had the same classes as infected children, Knott said.

“Children are more susceptible because their immunity is not as well-developed as adults’ and they have tinier airways,” Weber said.

“The infection has a bigger consequence on their airways.”



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