Whooping cough, sometimes called "pertussis," has jumped in the area over the past two years. Whooping cough is a bacterial disease. It is spread through coughing and sneezing.

"There was a very large outbreak - over 1,000 cases - in southeast Wisconsin this year," said Kitty Loewy, spokeswoman for the Cook County Board of Health. "From there, whooping cough seems to have traveled south across the Illinois border."

From 1999 through 2003, Cook County reported 20 or fewer cases a year. In 2004 however, there are more than 70 in suburban Cook. Most of those are in the northern and western suburbs, Loewy said.

Although whooping cough is considered highly contagious, so far, no cases have been reported in Norridge or Harwood Heights. But Arlington Heights has reported six cases to the Cook County Board of Health; Des Plaines, nine; Park Ridge, three; Lincolnwood, one; Hoffman Estates, eight; Rolling Meadows, three; Schaumburg, two; Wheeling, three; Palatine, 10; Elmwood Park, three; Franklin Park, one; River Forest, five; and Melrose Park, six.

Chicago, Oak Park and Skokie report their cases to their own municipal boards of health. Their numbers are not included in the county's figures.

Chicago Department of Public Health Spokesman Tim Hadac said the city is on track to have a higher number of cases than are normally seen in Chicago, which is somewhere between 20 to 50 a year, "but not nearly the five-fold or ten-fold increase in cases in the suburbs." Hadac said the quantity of reported cases however is "surprisingly low in light of what is going on in the suburbs."

Different groups
The demographic groups affected are different. While pre-teens and teenagers are falling victim to pertussis in the suburbs, the majority of the cases in Chicago involve infants, which is normal for the city. None of the cases so far this year has been fatal.

"It's got more than one public health department scratching its head," Hadac remarked. "It's not to say that it couldn't happen (in Chicago) in the future."

Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago has reported one case to the Chicago Board of Health, an occurrence hospital officials describe as "highly unusual." In most years, they have none.

"All but one or two of the cases reported to us had some form of immunization," Loewy reported. "Vaccinations are not 100 percent effective. "There's still a risk. We haven't had any fatalities though."

Dr. Oscar Novick, a Park Ridge pediatrician, is telling his patients that if a child has any sustained coughing for longer than a week, to call a physician.

Who's at risk
Children older than 10 and teens get more and more susceptible as they get older because "the vaccine loses effectiveness over time," Novick said. "The vaccine just does not give a lifetime immunity like some of the other vaccines we have," he said.

At the request of the Cook County Board of Health, officials at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights and at Giles, Leigh and Pennoyer schools in Norridge have mailed bulletins to parents and guardians on whooping cough.

At Ridgewood High in Norridge, business manager Cheryl Flinn reports the bulletins are available in the school's main office and are posted on the school's Web site - www.ridgenet.org - which also includes links to the Cook County Board of Health site.

"Adults can usually shake whooping cough off," Loewy said, "but babies can't handle the severity of the illness."

Children should get five doses of DtaP vaccine, one dose at each of the following ages - 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15 to 18 months and 4 to 6 years. Most children who have been vaccinated will be protected throughout childhood.

"Scientists are working on a booster shot for adults with respiratory problems," Loewy said, "but they haven't perfected one yet."

Symptoms
The first symptoms of pertussis include a runny nose, a low-grade fever, sneezing and a mild cough. The cough increases in severity, eventually to a number of rapid coughs in succession, followed by high-pitched "whoops" as the patient tries to inhale after coughing spells. Attacks increase in frequency - for up to as many as 10 weeks. Coughing episodes may recur for months after the first symptoms appear.

Pertussis is treated with antibiotics, usually erythromycin. Persons who have come into contact with whooping cough patients need to consult their doctors, who may recommend taking antibiotics as a precaution.

Whooping cough patients should be isolated for at least five days of antibiotic treatments. Those who suspect they have the disease should stay away from small children, especially infants.

Complications of whooping cough include bacterial pneumonia, ear inflections, loss of appetite and dehydration. Infrequently, convulsions and brain inflammation may accompany whooping cough in infants, causing long-term effects and even result in death, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Contributing to this report were staff writers Alan Schmidt and Matt Dominis.

BY WYNN KOEBEL FOSTER
Des Plaines Times