United States: The whooping cough disease, known as pertussis, led to the death of two Louisiana babies during the previous six months.
Washington state reported its initial death caused by pertussis over ten years ago.
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Two separate deaths occurred in Idaho and South Dakota during this year, while Oregon recorded both its maximum case numbers and two deaths since 1950.
The small West Texas towns in their dirty surroundings grab national attention for their growing measles outbreaks, yet the nationwide pertussis cases have skyrocketed past 1500 percent since reaching their minimum point during COVID-19, as propublica.org reported.
Deaths reached a new count
The disease-related death count for 2022 reached ten cases last year, although previous years reported two to four such deaths annually.
The current outbreak will surpass the reported total from the previous year.
The measles outbreak exceeding 600 cases has prompted doctors, along with researchers and public health experts, to predict further similar outbreaks in the future.
Public health experts warn that more preventable disease outbreaks will become worse due to decreased vaccination rates combined with budget cuts by the Trump administration to public health systems nationwide.
The latest federal kindergarten vaccination data shows a substantial drop in national rates for four important vaccines since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a ProPublica analysis.
National data shows falling protection levels for measles, mumps, and rubella and additional vaccine coverage rates, including pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, and polio.
These public health experts claim that the increase in unvaccinated populations in different parts of the country exposes babies and young kids to dangerous infections when these diseases return.
According to Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor in New York City and author of the book ‘Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health,’ “This is not just measles.”
“It’s a bright red warning light,” he continued.