Whooping cough sickens 65 in outbreak at Bay Area high school, California officials say

Northern California has seen a dramatic spike in whooping cough cases since December, Marin County Public Health Officer Matt Willis warned in a March 22 advisory.

Since the end of 2023, county health officials have seen 93 cases of whooping cough, 65 of which have been tied to an outbreak ripping through Tamalpais High School, according to the Marin Independent Journal.

Whooping cough, or pertussis as it’s called in the medical community, is “a highly contagious respiratory infection,” Willis said. People with whooping cough may first feel like they have a common cold, but soon, the infection progresses to a hacking cough. The term “whooping cough” refers to the “whoop” noise people with the infection make when gasping for air.

It is spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing. Even people with mild symptoms can pass it to others.

“The incubation period is typically 7–10 days,” Willis said. “Persons are infectious from the onset of cold-like symptoms until completion of five days of treatment or until 21 days after cough onset if no or partial treatment is given.”

Willis recommends that individuals who think they have whooping cough or have had contact with someone who is infected to isolate for at least five days.

Vaccines are the best protection against whooping cough, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while vaccines don’t stop people from getting sick, they do keep infections mild.

The CDC recommends everyone receive five doses of the pertussis vaccine between two months and six years of age, with a final dose at age 11 or 12.

While Marin County had relatively low vaccination rates in the early 2010s, the numbers have since gone up, with 97% of kindergartners up-to-date on their vaccines as of the 2021-2022 school year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

At Tamalpais High School, the majority of students are vaccinated. However, high school age individuals are still most at-risk for contracting whooping cough due to their waning immunity from the whooping cough vaccine they receive in the 7th grade, public health nurse Laurel Johnson told Marin Independent Journal.

Tara Taupier, superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District, told Marin Independent Journal that Willis’ notice had been sent to all parents at Tamalpais High in both English and Spanish.

While the spike at the high school is concerning to officials, Willis explains that the most urgent reason for alarm for any whooping cough outbreak is the vulnerability of babies in the community.

“The primary focus of pertussis control efforts is protecting infants from infection,” Willis said, given that newborns are not able to receive their first vaccine dose until two months after birth.

And even once they have this first dose, they are still vulnerable as they need two more doses to be fully protected.

Babies who contract whooping cough can struggle far more than grown adults, or even older children.

“Many babies with whooping cough don’t cough at all,” says the CDC. “Instead it may cause them to turn blue or struggle to breathe.”

For this reason, health officials suggest pregnant women get a pertussis vaccine in their third trimester.

“By doing so, she helps protect her baby from whooping cough in the first few months of life,” CDC officials said.

This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Whooping cough sickens 65 in outbreak at Bay Area high school, California officials say."