Five times as many cases of the potentially fatal illness have been reported so far in 2024, compared with the same time last year.

Whooping cough cases are continuing to rise in the United States, with new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that there are five times as many cases this year than at this point in time last year.

Public Health Madison & Dane County have reported an increase in cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, with 142 individuals testing positive so far this year, according to WKOW.  Morgan Finke,

Nationwide, CDC has reported that kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and vaccine exemptions are at an all-time high. Thursday, it released state figures, showing that about 86% of kindergartners in Wisconsin got the whooping cough vaccine, compared to more than 92% nationally.

There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That’s the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped

Whooping Cough has been identified in a few students at South Dakota State University. In an email to students and faculty, the South Dakota Department of Health said they found “a few cases” at the school.

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Whooping cough usually peaks every three to five years, and the latest numbers indicate a return to levels before the pandemic.