(Toronto) Whooping cough cases are on the rise in Canada, with some provinces reporting sharp increases compared to pre-pandemic averages.
More than 11,670 cases have been reported in Quebec so far this year, which represents a significant increase compared to the annual average of 562 cases between 2015 and 2019.
The majority of whooping cough patients are between 10 and 14 years old, a spokesperson for the Quebec Ministry of Health said in an email to The Canadian Press.
The last peak of whooping cough activity in the province was in 2019, when 1,269 cases were reported, the government reports.
In June, Ontario recorded 470 cases of whooping cough, compared with a five-year average of 98, according to a provincial dashboard.
Toronto has reported 99 cases so far this year, while Ottawa has recorded 76, more than double the pre-pandemic annual averages in those cities.
The numbers follow a whooping cough outbreak declared last week in New Brunswick, where 141 cases have been reported so far, exceeding the five-year average of 34 cases per year.
Whooping cough, a highly contagious and vaccine-preventable disease, is on the rise across Canada, Dr.D Theresa Tam, Chief Administrative Officer of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The disease can be very serious and even fatal, especially for very young children, Dr.D Tam during an interview last Friday.
“We call it the 100-day cough,” she said. “It can cause a significant cough for a very long period of time.”
Whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years, according to public health officials. It is a persistent cough that begins with cold-like symptoms and progresses over several weeks to include coughing fits that often end with a screaming sound when an infected person catches breath.
An increase in whooping cough cases has also been observed in the United States and elsewhere, prompting the Pan American Health Organization to issue an alert in July encouraging countries to strengthen surveillance and vaccination coverage.
– With information from Nicole Ireland in Toronto