A whooping cough outbreak in Manitoba’s southern health region is expected to climb in the coming months, and experts say it’s the largest outbreak of the illness the province has seen in at least 25 years.
“Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is caused by a bacteria that’s most commonly transmitted through respiratory droplets,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr, Davinder Singh.
“For those who do develop a more severe cough, then the cough can worsen to the point where the child might have, you know, very severe spells of coughing, followed by vomiting or followed by difficulty breathing.
“I am concerned, especially for those infants, the youngest in the community, and for pregnant women, who are especially further along in their pregnancy,”
On Monday, the province declared the situation as an outbreak and as of Friday, the health region accounted for 152 of Manitoba’s 154 cases. Some people ended up in the emergency room and pediatric ICU.
Singh estimates vaccine uptake in babies born outside Winnipeg between 2018 and 2021 dropped about 15 per cent, in part due to the pandemic.
“We did see during the pandemic that for those children who were born during the pandemic or born shortly before the pandemic, who would have received their routine childhood immunizations during the last three years, that the rates for those routine childhood immunizations did drop,” Singh said.
“It’s really important for children who might have missed their routine childhood immunizations to get caught up on those immunizations.”
Manitoba has sent letters to families with babies born in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to help them close those gaps. The province’s recommendation is a three-dose series for infants who are two, four and six months old, with a booster at 18 months, around kindergarten age, and in grade 8 or 9.
Additionally, it is recommended for pregnant women to get vaccinated for every pregnancy.
“For all pregnant women, for every pregnancy, it’s important to get a pertussis booster between 27 and 32 weeks of gestation,” Singh said, saying catching up on routine childhood immunizations also protects against other illnesses.
“Someone could easily acquire measles in one of those other countries and travel back to Canada and introduce it into a population here,” he says.
Singh says antibiotics are also available for people with whooping cough.
“If you are having symptoms and do think that you might have pertussis or you’ve been exposed to someone who has had pertussis, then you know, it’s important to contact your regular health care provider because antibiotics can be used to either treat infection or for specific high-risk groups.”
— with files from Global’s Rosanna Hempel