Victorian-era disease that's killed spate of kids in UK now rising in US elementary schools

A Victorian era disease that’s killing children in the UK is now reappearing in elementary schools in the United States. 

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is one of the most infectious diseases and particularly dangerous for very young children whose immune systems are still developing.

In the UK, five infants — including some that were otherwise healthy — have already died from the disease this year, with cases on track to hit their highest level in more than four decades at almost 3,000 recorded.

And now, a similar wave is hitting the US, with elementary schools nationwide, including in New York City and San Francisco, reporting outbreaks.

Infections this side of the Atlantic have already surpassed 4,800 — equivalent to 270 percent more cases than at the same time last year. No deaths have been reported and it isn’t clear whether cases are among people who have not been vaccinated.

The above graph shows the number of whooping cough cases in 2023 and 2024 by the week ending May 25 in both years

After her condition worsened, she was transferred to St Mary’s Hospital in London where she was diagnosed with the condition and put on a ventilator. Polly is now awake and breathing independently. Ms Pearson (pictured) said: ‘I’ve never been more relieved in my life. I watched them take the tubes out and turn all the machines off [as she recovered]. It was the best thing ever’

Riley Hughes  (pictured with his mom Catherine) was otherwise healthy when he died from whooping cough at just one-month old in 2015

Official figures from the CDC show so far in 2024, cases have already surpassed the number recorded in 2022, 2021 and 2020, when they hit a high of 2,300 cases.

Experts say it is also on track to exceed the tally in 2023, when 5,346 infections were recorded.

The US recorded the most cases since the 1950s in 2012, when 48,277 people were diagnosed with the disease — with the uptick linked to waning immunity and changes in testing.

In the current outbreak, several states are behind the rise and are reporting a surge in cases, including Oregon, where infections are up 770 percent from last year, or 178 cases recorded so far compared to 20 in 2023, and Pennsylvania, which has recorded 601 cases, the most in any state to date.

Elementary schools in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, northern California, New Jersey and New York have also all recorded outbreaks, reporting about a dozen children have been infected in each.

The disease is also on the rise globally, with China recording more than 32,000 cases by February this year — a 20-fold surge from 1,400 in 2023, with the uptick also linked to waning immunity from jabs. 

Experts fear the disease is resurging amid falling vaccination rates and waning immunity among adults — creating ideal conditions for it to return.

There are also concerns that migrants could be bringing the disease into the US, because of differing vaccination standards in their home countries.

The mother of Polly Deehy (pictured left in hospital) has urged others to get vaccinated against whooping cough to protect infants after her baby daughter had to be placed into a ten-day coma. Another mother in the UK has also made an emotional plea after her one-month-old daughter Rosie Robin (pictured) was hospitalized for two weeks with the disease

Adults and most children are protected from the disease via vaccination — receiving five doses administered from the age of two months until their seventh birthday, and a sixth between the ages of 11 and 12.

Adults are also recommended to get a booster dose every 10 years, and pregnant women are asked to get a shot between weeks 27 and 36 of pregnancy.

Patients are offered the DTaP vaccine, or the Diptheria Tetanus and Pertussis shot, which is up to 98 percent effective at preventing the disease.

All 50 states require children to have the DTaP vaccine in order to attend kindergarten, although it is possible to get an exemption on medical grounds.

Adults who catch the disease often suffer from a mild illness with a runny nose and mild cough — similar to a cold.

But babies, and even healthy babies, are at high risk from infection because they are too young to be vaccinated.

And because their lungs are so small that they may not be able to handle the coughing fits brought on by the infection.

In the UK, a mother is urging more people to get the whooping cough vaccine in order to protect infants after her daughter Polly was put into a 10-day coma because of the disease.

Kerry Pearson, 26, told news outlets: ‘I just want people to be aware. You should have the whooping cough vaccine. If you’re not offered it, then please demand it.

‘If you’re an anti-vaxxer, please reconsider — this is deadly to infants — it’s not worth the risk. Nothing is worth going through what we’re going through.’

Her daughter was just two weeks old when she woke up struggling to breath with a cough on April 6 this year.

After four days of coughing at home, however, she suddenly turned blue and her parents rushed their daughter to the hospital.

Within three days of admission, she was put on a ventilator — with the tubes only detached about two weeks later after she started to recover.

Speaking about the experience, Ms Pearson added: ‘I’ve never been more relieved in my life. I watched them take the tubes out and turn all the machines off [as she recovered]. It was the best thing ever.

‘The odds were not in her favor, but she’s been very lucky. There’s no evidence of any lasting problems, but she might have a bit of weakness in her lungs — time will tell.’

Whooping cough is spread via aerosolized droplets emitted when an infected person coughs.

Adults suffer a mild illness, characterized by a runny nose and mild cough — similar to the flu.

Data suggests fewer Americans are getting vaccinated against the disease in the wake of the Covid pandemic, raising the risk of the disease resurging

But in infants, the disease can be deadly — rapidly leading to coughing paroxysms — where coughs come on rapidly and increase in intensity. They can also be left gagging and gasping for air.

It can be fatal if the illness leads to babies getting too little oxygen, which can cause damage to the brain and seizures. It can also weaken the immune system, raising the risk of secondary infections — like pneumonia — which can be deadly.

About one out of five babies who catch whooping cough develop pneumonia, while one in 100 die from the infection.

About 200,000 cases of whooping cough and 9,000 children deaths from the disease used to be recorded in the US every year.

But after a vaccine was introduced in 1991, these numbers have plummeted — with up to 20 babies now dying from the infection every year.

However, vaccination rates among children in the US are falling, with experts fearing this could open the door to more cases and further outbreaks.

CDC data shows nearly 95 percent of kindergarteners were up to date on the DTaP vaccine up to 2019, just at the threshold needed to prevent an outbreak.

But since then, rates have dropped. The latest estimate for the 2022 to 2023 school year shows only 92.7 percent had been vaccinated.