High school student Thomas Polhamus is all too familiar with the symptoms of whooping cough: the lengthy coughing fits and wheezing gasps for air.
“It hurts the throat and you’ll wake up in the middle of the night and start coughing,” he said.
After three weeks away, he’s just returning to Centre Hastings Secondary School.
He’s the first of two cases of whooping cough confirmed in Madoc schools.
The illness can spread quickly, make you sick for up to three months and some people are more at risk than others, according to Hastings, Prince Edward Public Health’s Dr. Ian Gemmill.
After the health unit confirmed whooping cough was in Madoc, they started alerting students and parents a little over a week ago.
Centre Hastings S.S. student Michael Wilson says they were all given letters to take home.
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Gemmill says Public Health has now implemented an immunization program with the aim of stopping or at least containing the spread of whooping cough.
“We have held four clinics in schools to offer the vaccine to any student who wants it.”
If students aren’t immunized, Gemmil says, by law they must be removed from school.
When it comes to getting immunized there’s no question in Polhamus’s mind about what they should do.
“It is a good idea,” he said. “It will prevent it.”
Public health officials say less than 20 students still need to be immunized.
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