Arizona urging whooping cough vaccinations

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health is urging every who is not immunized to get a shot for whooping cough.

The Arizona Department of Health Services said the state has already had 659 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, this year, compared to 867 for all of last year.

“Whooping cough tends to surge in three- to five-year cycles,” said Dr. Karen Lewis with AZDHS. “This is definitely a high year.”

Lewis said that she believes Arizona will surpass last year’s total. Last year, California had the most whooping cough cases that it’s had in the past 50 years.

“Whooping cough is a bacteria that spreads like a cold,” she said. “It gets into your lungs, and soon you start coughing, and coughing and coughing so badly that you can’t catch your breath. Adults can cough so badly that they can break ribs, while kids can strangle and die from it.”

Whooping cough has already claimed the life of one child in Arizona this year.

One problem is that most people think it’s only kids that need a shot for whooping cough. Lewis said that’s not true. While it’s not fatal in adults, parents who catch it can pass it on to their kids and put them in danger. She said that everyone should get immunized, but only around eight percent of adults will actually get a shot.