Whooping cough outbreak in Suffolk County, health officials say

A spike in whooping cough cases in Suffolk has led county health officials to issue an alert over the respiratory illness.

There are currently 108 reported cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, throughout the county, compared to just four cases reported in all of 2022. Officials said the cases are primarily among school-age children and their parents and urge residents to seek early diagnosis.

“With so many respiratory illnesses currently circulating, some for which there are no treatment, we wanted to make sure that parents know that pertussis … can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early,” Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott said in a statement.

Pertussis is considered highly contagious and marked by coughing fits that can last up to 10 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Early symptoms are typical of the common cold, which can delay diagnosis until conditions worsen.

Pigott warned that pertussis can be especially serious and even fatal for infants who are too young to be vaccinated.

Suffolk officials said a majority of people with the infection are vaccinated and have mild symptoms. No hospitalizations have been linked to the outbreak.

A CDC report shows there were an estimated 2,388 cases nationwide in 2022, up from 2,116 the year before.

No similar uptick has been reported in Nassau County to date, though the number of Suffolk cases includes a student who attends school in Nassau but lives in Suffolk, according to health department spokesperson Grace Kelly-McGovern.

Kelly-McGovern said Saturday that 100 of the cases have been reported since Nov. 28 and span the entire county.

“Sometimes kids will go to the doctor with symptoms and they don’t do the test,” she said, adding that county health officials have also alerted health care providers to the rise in cases.

County health officials said vaccination is the best way to prevent or lessen the severity of the disease. The CDC recommends covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and frequent hand washing to prevent infection.