Another newborn baby has died from whooping cough, MailOnline can reveal today amid growing fears the outbreak could be the worst in 40 years.
Nearly 3,000 cases of pertussis, or the 100-day cough, have already been recorded in 2024 — treble levels seen across the entirety of 2023. Nottingham, parts of Wales, Leeds and Sheffield appear to be the hotspots.
Only three of 330-plus districts across England and Wales have yet to report any suspected cases this year, MailOnline analysis reveals.
Whooping cough – an illness as contagious as measles – killed five babies in the first quarter of 2024. All were under the age of three months.
Another victim, not yet included in the official toll, is Evie-Grace Lewis, who died last week at just 15 days old after catching the infection. Heartbroken parents Reece and Caitlin say she ‘deteriorated so quickly’.
It means six babies have died in the current outbreak, making it the deadliest in a decade.
Another victim, not yet included in the official toll, is Evie-Grace Lewis, who died last week at just 15 days old after catching the infection
Reece Lewis, Evie-Grace’s father, told ITV News that his partner, Caitlin, ‘had to have the vaccine during her pregnancy’, adding: ‘But I didn’t know what it is or what it was for.’ Pictured, Evie-Grace’s parents, Caitlin and Reece
Dozens of newborns used to die from the illness every year before pregnant women were routinely offered jabs in 2012.
One of the country’s most respected paediatricians today warned ‘there will be more deaths’.
Sir Andrew Pollard, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, a Government advisory panel, claimed the ‘only thing we can actually do’ is drastically vaccination rates.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) bosses have blamed the current outbreak on a steady decline in the uptake of vaccines among expectant mums.
Experts say this is due to a mixture of vaccine hesitancy in the wake of Covid as well as a lack of awareness. The cancellation of many ‘non essential’ services during the pandemic and the consequence of lockdowns on immunity are also thought to have played a role.
The jab in pregnancy, offered between 16 and 32 weeks, protects babies in the first few months of their life, when they are most vulnerable and before they can receive their own vaccines.
Heartbroken parents Reece and Caitlin say she ‘deteriorated so quickly’
Polly Deehy, from Dartford, Kent, was an otherwise healthy baby until her terrifying ordeal. In April, at just two weeks old, she developed a rattly cough that left her struggling to breathe. She was rushed to hospital four days later by her parents when she suddenly turned blue, her mother Kerry Pearson (pictured) revealed
After her condition worsened she was transferred to St Mary’s Hospital in London where medics diagnosed her with pertussis, nicknamed the ‘100-day cough’, and put her on a ventilator
Just a quarter of expectant mothers have had the pertussis jab in some boroughs of London. Rates are below half in other parts of the capital and Birmingham.
Uptake of the six-in-one jab – offered to babies in the first four months of life – are also at an all-time low.
Babies are given three doses of the six-in-one jab at eight, 12 and 16 weeks of age to protect against whooping cough and other serious diseases such as diphtheria and polio. A pre-school booster is offered after they turn three.
Only 21 fatalities were logged between then and 2023. All but two of their mothers were unvaccinated.
MailOnline understands of the six babies known to have died of whooping cough in 2024, just two of their mothers were unvaccinated.
Reece Lewis, Evie-Grace’s father, told ITV News that his partner, Caitlin, ‘had to have the vaccine during her pregnancy’, adding: ‘But I didn’t know what it is or what it was for.’
He admitted that he ‘didn’t really know anything’ about whooping cough, a bacterial infection that can silently lurk inside the body for 21 days.
Reece, who with Caitlin is now fundraising for Birmingham Children’s Hospital where Evie-Grace was treated, said said she had been ‘perfectly fine’ in the first few days of her life.
It was only ‘around day seven when we really started to worry’.
He told ITV: ‘In the last two to three days of her life was when it really went bad and she just deteriorated so quickly – it was unreal.
‘Her first cough would be a normal cough, then she would go silent and you could hear she was so blocked up she couldn’t get the cough out and was struggling to breathe.’
MailOnline has created an interactive map revealing the number of suspected cases detected in each local authority across England and Wales in 2024.
Nationwide, more than 8,000 whooping cough cases have been recorded since the start of the year.
Yet there is still a huge disparity in rates across the country, with Nottingham logging the most (180).
It was followed by the Vale of Glamorgan (130), Cardiff (124) and Swansea (121), all of which are in Wales.
Similarly high figures were seen in Leeds (111), Sheffield (110) and Hart (98).
In comparison, three authorities — the City of London, Torridge and the Isles of Scilly — haven’t logged a single case so far.
Experts have already warned the epidemic ‘may well tragically rise’.
Dr Saleyha Ahsan, an A&E doctor in London, told MailOnline: ‘There is, inevitably, a lag between deaths and official reported figures.
‘So already, by mid-May, the number of deaths is thought to be higher.
‘And with paediatric intensive care units now on “surge capacity” because of both pertussis and measles, that number may well, tragically, rise.’
In the 1980s, the government published terrifying adverts telling parents whooping cough can cause vomiting, weight loss, brain damage and death in children.
Dr Ahsan said the Department of Health should re-publicise the deadly dangers of the illness to boost vaccine uptake.
Dr David Elliman, a consultant in community child health at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, today also said: ‘The rise in cases of measles and pertussis and the sad deaths in the first three months of this year, should be a wakeup call to the NHS.’
Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health based at the University of Southampton, today said: ‘Whooping cough can and does kill babies.
‘A high coverage of vaccination is vital in reducing transmission within populations.
‘Vaccine uptake in young children and for expectant mothers during pregnancy is so important. The vaccine is safe, and extremely effective.
‘As a disease, whooping cough is as infectious as measles, and more infectious than Covid.
‘This is, in part, due to a long period where the infected individual can be infectious, able to transmit the bacteria to others.
The government has been urged to publicise the deadly danger of whooping cough to boost vaccine uptake, as it did in the 1980s and ’90s
Health officials warned that the infection is initially difficult to tell apart from a cold, as the first signs are a runny nose and sore throat. But around a week later, sufferers may develop coughing bouts that last minutes, struggle to breathe after coughing and make a ‘whoop’ sound between coughs. Other signs of whooping cough include bringing up a thick mucus that can cause vomiting and becoming red in the face
‘Thus, with a larger pool of susceptible people, there is increased likelihood of an outbreak being sustained.’
Whooping cough, spread through coughs and sneezes, can initially be difficult to tell apart from a cold, with the first signs typically being a runny nose and sore throat.
But around a week later, sufferers may develop coughing bouts which last minutes, struggle to breathe after coughing and make a ‘whoop’ sound between coughs.
Other signs of pertussis include bringing up a thick mucus that can cause vomiting and becoming red in the face.
Whooping cough is a cyclical illness which typically peaks every five years. The last occurred in 2016, when almost 6,000 cases were confirmed.
Pre-pandemic, between 2,500 and 4,500 suspected cases were logged each year. This fell to around 500 during the coronavirus crisis.
Surveillance statistics show 2,793 lab-confirmed cases have been reported this year to the end of March.
Of these, 556 were logged in January, 918 in February and 1,319 in March.
Half (50.8 per cent) were among those aged 15 and older, with more than a quarter (28.6 per cent) in children aged 10 to 14.
But rates remained highest in babies under three months.
However, infection rates are still nowhere near the annual high of 170,000 logged in the 1940s.
Almost 3,000 cases have already been recorded in 2024 — triple the levels seen across the entirety of 2023. Health chiefs say Covid lockdowns have fuelled England’s unprecedented pertussis epidemic, nicknamed the ‘100-day cough’
Over half (50.8 per cent) of all whooping cases in 2024 have been among those aged 15 and older, with more than a quarter (28.6 per cent) in children aged 10 to 14. But the rates of whooping cough remained highest in babies under three months, UKHSA noted
Pregnant women are being urged to get the vaccine to protect their baby from catching the infection in the first few weeks of their life. Protection should last until they are old enough to get vaccinated themselves
Sufferers are infectious from around six days after cold-like symptoms begin to three weeks after their cough starts.
Doctors dish out antibiotics as treatment if the whooping cough is detected within three weeks.
However, if a person has been infected for longer, antibiotics will not speed up their recovery.
Whooping cough is less severe in older children and adults but can still cause sore ribs, a hernias, ear infections and urinary incontinence among these groups.
Earlier this week, Kerry Pearson, from Dartford, Kent, also urged all pregnant women to take the whooping cough jab after her newborn Polly spent 10 days in a coma with the infection .
In April, at just two weeks old, she developed a rattly cough that left her struggling to breathe.
She said: ‘I knew nothing about whooping cough — it was just something from my grandparents’ era.
‘There’s no treatment and no cure, we’re just having to wait and it’s unbearable.
