A school-age child in Umatilla County has been diagnosed with whooping cough, a highly-contagious disease.
Umatilla County Public Health Department said the child did attend school prior to being diagnosed earlier this month.
Officials say the child lives in the west end of the county and family members have received antibiotic treatment to prevent further spread of the illness.
In most cases pertussis will start with mild upper respiratory symptoms: runny nose, sore throat, intermittent cough.
Pertussis, known as whooping cough, is characterized by severe coughing that can last for six to 10 weeks with.
Pertussis is highly contagious and most infectious during the early stages and for 2 weeks after the cough starts. It can occur at any age but can cause severe illness in non-immunized or not fully immunized infants and children.
“The best protection against pertussis is immunizing with DTaP or Tdap vaccines” said Genni Lehnert-Beers, public health administrator. “It’s important to know that immunizations do not always provide 100 percent protection against disease for everyone, especially if more than 5 years has elapsed since the last shot”.
Umatilla County has not had a confirmed case of pertussis since 2009 but elsewhere in the state and country pertussis cases have been consistently confirmed.
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