By meadowlakeNOW

Vaccinations key to preventing whooping cough outbreak: health region

Sep 27, 2017 | 1:02 PM

The current whooping cough outbreak in Moose Jaw is reminiscent of the one in Meadow Lake two years ago, but another epidemic can be avoided in the health region by keeping up with vaccinations, according to one doctor.

As of last week Moose Jaw had 67 reported cases of whooping cough, which is just over triple what Meadow Lake saw during their 2015 outbreak. Dr. Mandiangu Nsungu of thePrairie North Health Region, said there have been five confirmed cases this year in the health region, with the latest one being reported a few weeks ago.

The doctor said children should always be up to date on vaccinations and added anyone over 18 should be as well, especially pregnant women and those who spend time around infants.

“Young kids can die as a result of pertussis (technical word for whooping cough),” Dr. Nsungu said. “That is why we keep putting emphasis on those under 12 months because they are the ones likely to die of the disease. When it comes to pregnant women we are also concerned because if they are infected with the disease they can pass it on to their child in the last trimester.”

Dr. Nsungu added pregnant woman can safely get vaccinated to avoid the risk of passing the disease onto their child and said it was important for them to check with their family doctor to see if they have been immunized.

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Pneumonia, seizures and encephalopathy, which is a form of brain disease, are complications of whooping cough.

He said the five cases in the region far from constitute an outbreak, but it is something the health region constantly monitors.

“It is always possible those outbreaks can happen anywhere,” Nsungu said. “We talk about an outbreak when the number of cases exceeds what we were expecting.”

He added there is no specific number that constitutes an outbreak, as it would require a lot of cases in a small area in a short amount of time to garner the label. The five reported cases in the health region have been over a nine month span and aren’t of concern to Dr. Nsungu because they haven’t been geographically close to each other.

Dr. Nsungu said anyone experiencing symptoms of whooping cough, which can be similar to the flue, to see a doctor immediately.

greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins