Elgin, Oxford counties have 40% of recent whooping cough cases in Ontario

Officials with Southwestern Public Health are asking parents to ensure their children are vaccinated for pertussis after a report shows the region accounts for almost half of the cases in Ontario.

The report from the SWPH unit indicates that between the start of 2022 and the end of February 2023, Elgin County, Oxford County and St. Thomas have had 82 confirmed cases of pertussis – also known as whooping cough. That figure represents roughly 40 per cent of all cases in Ontario during the 14-month time period.

Dr. Ninh Tran, medical officer of health for the unit, says the large numbers make him concerned for the community’s youngest members.

“Infants are always a particular risk for more serious complications as their immune system is just developing,” said Tran.

Symptoms of pertussis typically begin with a runny nose or nasal congestion, sneezing, mild cough and mild fever. The cough, lasting between two and eight weeks, will get progressively worse and may lead to vomiting or trouble breathing.

Tran says a telltale sign is the distinct “whooping” cough.

“It can often be recognized by the loud “whooping” sound that occurs when the child is inhaling after a coughing spell,” says the health unit.

If left untreated in infants, pertussis can lead to hospitalization, brain damage and death.

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While no single reason could be offered for the high number of cases over the past 14 months, Tran says a combination of pertussis being a cyclical disease and low vaccination rates are contributing to the high volumes of the highly contiguous disease.

“It is a cyclical disease, but we also happen to have a higher population of unvaccinated individuals here,” said Tran.

“This really is a reminder for everyone to be up-to-date on their immunizations.”

While pertussis was once one of the most common childhood diseases among children in the 20th century, the development of a vaccine helped decrease cases and deaths significantly.

The disease can still be introduced to communities through travel to countries or areas with a lower vaccination rate. It can then circulate among the unvaccinated, under-vaccinated or those with waning effectiveness.

Pertussis is one of the nine childhood diseases students must be immunized against to attend grade school in Ontario, barring an accepted exemption. Tran says the vaccine is offered first when an infant is between two and six months old or at 18 months old, and then at the ages of four and six and again between 14 and 16, as the vaccine can lose effectiveness over time.

However, like many childhood disease vaccines, immunization for pertussis has not been distributed as routinely over the past couple of years due to the focus on the COVID-19 vaccine. To help get children up to date with immunization, Tran says along with year-round clinics, SWPH is running special clinics in March.

Residents wishing to book a vaccination clinic appointment can book online at http://www.swpublichealth.ca/booking.