Pertussis reports from Central Otago

Pertussis reports from Central Otago

This week, Public Health South has been notified of at least five cases of people with pertussis in Wanaka and Hawea. There are also two confirmed cases in the Taieri area outside of Dunedin. Public Health South is investigating to determine if there are more cases in the wider area. Public Health South is also following up with medical centres regionally to determine if there are more cases of pertussis not yet notified.

Vaccination is the best way to prevent pertussis. Vaccination is available for free up until the age of 18 or for pregnant women in their last trimester. If you have had contact with someone with pertussis you do not need to see your GP unless you are unwell. In these cases please make sure to advise your GP why you are concerned about pertussis. If you are not aware of coming into contact with pertussis but you or one of your family has had a persistent cough, discuss with your GP. For more information visit http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/pages/whoopingcough/

Vaccination against pertussis has been part of routine immunisation in New Zealand since the 1960s and nowadays cases of Pertussis are less common. Pertussis, also known as whooping cough is a highly infectious and serious disease, especially in young infants not old enough to be vaccinated. Prior to the vaccine, pertussis was a major cause of infant death.

Although rare, people are still vulnerable to pertussis. This is because not everybody is immune to pertussis. There are a range of reasons for this: in older people the vaccination can start to wear off (which is why boosters are recommended), young infants are not old enough to be fully vaccinated, and some people in the community are either not up to date with their vaccinations or have chosen not to vaccinate. Vaccination is the best way to protect you and your family from pertussis.

Because pertussis is serious, cases are notifiable to public health units and disease rates are monitored across the country so as to detect and manage outbreaks. Although it is normal for occasional cases of pertussis to occur in the community from time to time, there have been significant outbreaks in New Zealand recently, in 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2012. Up until the last week in Otago and Southland, rates appear to have been average for the region, at about 6/100,000 population. There was no apparent rise in the number of cases of pertussis in the region.

Symptoms of pertussis include a cough lasting more than two weeks, sometimes with a whoop, and post cough vomiting. Because the symptoms are initially hard to distinguish from a viral cough, pertussis testing and diagnosis are complicated creating a time lag between someone becoming unwell and being diagnosed with pertussis.

Dr Derek Bell, Medical Officer of Health.

ENDS

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