There is currently a peak in the number of whooping cough cases. This disease is especially dangerous for babies. In recent months, the health service has received an average of two reports of whooping cough from 0 to 4-year-olds per week.
Nationally, the number of reports of people with whooping cough is still increasing, the RIVM said last week. In the first two weeks of this month, a total of 1,800 people with whooping cough were reported, of which around 50 were babies. For 2024, the count so far stands at 5,300 people, of which 276 are babies. These are very high numbers compared to previous years, also in Friesland.
“Yes, there is currently a high peak in the number of whooping cough cases,” says Everhard Hofstra, infectious disease control doctor at GGD Fryslân. This service recorded eighteen cases of whooping cough in 0 to 4-year-olds in the past nine weeks. These are children who have tested positive.
Hofstra is not so generous with other figures, because he believes they do not mean much. “In the statistics you only see people who have been tested, but not everyone with whooping cough has been tested.”
All children vaccinated
In principle, all children in the Netherlands are vaccinated against whooping cough, and for about eight years now also pregnant women (the 22-week vaccination). Over time, the protection decreases and you can contract whooping cough. Hofstra: “If you were vaccinated as a child, your complaints are less serious and you are less contagious.”
The GGD hears that children in many primary schools are affected by the disease. “There are many reports of illness. In some cases we send out a general letter to inform parents. In principle it should go away on its own, but in vulnerable people it is sometimes treated with medication. The most important thing to prevent the spread is good hygiene, just like with corona, and avoiding contact with vulnerable people, such as heavily pregnant people.”
The main point, the doctor said, is to prevent infants, the most vulnerable group, from being affected. For this reason, the GGD also conducts source and contact research when reporting whooping cough. “We then want to know whether there are very young children in the family or immediate environment, the category that ends up in hospital.” All family members will then receive antibiotic treatment to stop the contagiousness.
Corona pandemic
Every two to four years there is a peak in the number of whooping cough infections. According to Hofstra, the current high peak is still related to the corona pandemic. “At the time we kept our distance, so we hardly had any infections at the time. Now we are together again, which makes it more circular.”
On Tuesday, the RIVM put together a new Outbreak Management Team (OMT) due to several measles outbreaks in the south of the country. The OMT advises the GGDs to take additional measures. According to Hofstra, there are no known cases of measles in Friesland yet. “But we are preparing for an epidemic. We ensure that our information provision is in order.”
