In Guadalajara, an outbreak of whooping cough in schools killed 124 people.
The Ministry of Health of Castile-La Mancha confirmed this Thursday an outbreak of whooping cough in Guadalajara, where 124 people were affected. The outbreak originated primarily in the school environment, with only six cases among 124 adults, and two cases identified in schools in the Community of Madrid.
In all of them, a study of family, school and extracurricular contacts of the sick was carried out, chemoprophylaxis and full vaccination were recommended, if necessary, depending on each case. The information note is also sent to educational centers and centers where extra-curricular activities are conducted, as well as to parents.
As Laura Ruiz, Director General of Public Health of Castile-La Mancha, said this Thursday, “the outbreak has a school origin and mainly affects children between 5 and 13 years of age, as well as some adults secondarily infected by these children.” According to Ruiz, “the most important preventative measure for whooping cough is vaccination, which begins with the vaccination of pregnant women, also at two, four and eleven months and a similar dose at six years.”
Symptoms of a developing disease
Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by the highly contagious respiratory bacterium Bordetella pertussis, which poses a serious threat to the lives of infants if they are not vaccinated. This infection can be serious in unvaccinated infants, immunocompromised infants, or pregnant women.
Symptoms develop in two phases: the first, which usually lasts one or two weeks, is easily confused with a cold or other respiratory infections because it causes nasal congestion, low fever and an occasional mild cough.
Starting in the second week, more severe symptoms may appear, especially rapid, severe and uncontrollable coughing attacks.
Hence the importance of vaccination as a key strategy to combat this type of disease. In addition, health authorities have noted an increase in whooping cough cases since the Covid-19 pandemic, both in Spain and in other countries.