Whooping cough has experienced rapid growth since the summer, marking the beginning of “a new pandemic wave”, according to a study by the Carlos III Health Institute presented this Monday that confirms 2,560 cases in 2023. The most serious, the death of a baby, without risk conditions, but whose mother had not been vaccinated during pregnancy.
Whooping cough is a common respiratory tract infection, very contagious, in adolescents and adults the disease can be mild, while in children under six months, especially in children under three, who have not yet received two doses of primary vaccination, Whooping cough presents a risk of complications and mortality.
The current vaccination schedule recommends four doses of vaccine against whooping cough: primary vaccination at 2 and 4 months of age and two booster doses at eleven months and six years. In 2016, vaccination of pregnant women from week 27 was introduced. Vaccination coverage has remained above 90% in recent decades.
In 2024 and according to the weekly epidemiological surveillance report, in Spain there are already 5,242 accumulated cases in the first two months, which represents an epidemic rate of 153.86 per 100,000 inhabitants. In “high circulation” situations like the current one, “the highest public health priority is the prevention of hospitalizations and deaths in children under one year of age,” according to the Institute.
“It is important that children are vaccinated, whenever possible, at the age indicated in the calendar and that those who have missed a dose are identified and recaptured to receive it as soon as possible,” adds the report, collected by EFE.
In week eight alone (from February 19 to 25), according to the weekly epidemiological surveillance bulletin, 1,077 cases were declared.
Of them, more than half (583) were registered in Catalonia, 147 in the Valencian Community, 141 in Andalusia, 50 in the Basque Country, 45 in Castilla y León, 38 in Madrid, 24 in Murcia, 19 in the Canary Islands and 10 in Galicia. In the rest of the communities it was less significant, but there were some cases in all of them.
The incidence of whooping cough is always highest in children under one year of age, followed by the rest of the pediatric age groups (1-14 years). In 2023, 5.6% of reported cases of whooping cough were hospitalized and those under one year old recorded the highest percentage, at 33%.