pertussis

Pertussis (whooping cough) incidence increases in cyclical patterns driven by waning immunity, and high vaccination coverage combined with good communication can mitigate outbreak size and severe outcomes among children who cannot be vaccinated.

Children are recommended to receive a series of DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccinations starting at 2 months of age, and adolescents and adults are recommended to receive a Tdap booster every 10 years; both DTaP and Tdap target diphtheria and tetanus in addition to pertussis.

Whooping cough is especially dangerous for infants under one year of age; among infants who require hospitalization for pertussis, about 20% develop pneumonia and about 1% die.

Declines in immunization coverage are associated with increases in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and pertussis (whooping cough).

Pertussis is the respiratory disease commonly known as whooping cough.

Children receive a series of DTaP vaccinations beginning at 2 months of age, and adolescents and adults are recommended to receive a Tdap booster approximately every 10 years; both vaccines protect against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.

A Korean study led by Jihun Song at Korea University College of Medicine reported that influenza-like illness dropped sharply during the early COVID-19 pandemic while upper respiratory infections and the common cold surged in 2023 and 2024 in Korea, and that pertussis incidence increased by more than 40-fold compared to historical trends.

Declines in childhood vaccination coverage have been associated with resurgences of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough (pertussis).