A conversation with Seattle
As you can see from the chart above, whooping cough has exploded from its edging-into-epidemic levels of last year, and Washington has yet to face the fall and winter. The CDC’s report on Washington’s epidemic records a 1,300-percent increase in the number of cases, the worst outbreak in the state since 1942–but that was as of June 16. Continue reading Whooping Cough Epidemic in Washington Now Up 1,300% From 2011
A month ago, we asked if Washington State was losing the war on whooping cough. We just made national news yesterday, with ABC reporting that we have been “hit hard by whooping cough.” Last year this time, Washington had seen 88 cases of pertussis. This year, it’s 549, and officials believe we’ll likely surpass last year’s total, breaking 1,000. Continue reading Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Cases Vault Past Epidemic Threshold in Washington State
In summer 2011, Reuters singled Seattle out as a wrong-way leader: “In the Seattle area between 2002 and 2007, 136 out of every 100,000 infants developed whooping cough each year, on average. Among every 100,000 U.S. infants overall, however, only 97 developed whooping cough in 2005.” But it’s in Snohomish County, to the north, that whooping cough has reached epidemic proportions. To combat the contagion, they’re offering free vaccinations. Continue reading Is Washington Losing the War on Whooping Cough?