Mississippi is seeing an increase in whooping cough cases as public health officials get ready for potential measles outbreaks in the state.
At the State Board of Health Meeting on April 10, State Epidemiologist Dr. Renia Dotson stated that the number of whooping cough, or pertussis, cases in Mississippi has increased to 32 this year from 49 last year.
Despite outbreaks in neighboring Texas, no measles cases have been confirmed in Mississippi as of yet.
Due to Mississippi’s high childhood vaccination rates, there is little chance of significant outbreaks of measles or pertussis among young children, who are most vulnerable to both illnesses and to serious consequences that could result in death, Dotson said.
Because of lifelong immunity from prior infections, adults are at low risk of measles outbreaks. State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney stated, “Our first line of defense is our immunization rates.”
Mississippi has consistently had the nation’s highest rates of childhood vaccinations.
However, the vaccination rate has gradually decreased, dropping from 99% to 97.5%, when a federal judge decided in 2023 that parents might choose not to vaccinate their children for school due to religious convictions.
Dr. Patricia Tibbs, a doctor from Laurel and the head of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Mississippi chapter, called the state’s dropping childhood immunization rates “extremely concerning.”
“With how much the religious exemption has affected our vaccine rates, I’m just worried that once (measles) hits the state, it’s going to spread,” she stated.
According to Edney, keeping the childhood vaccination rate above 95% is essential to preventing measles from becoming endemic, or persistent, in a region.
Because of the measles vaccine, measles was deemed eradicated in the United States in 2000. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination rates have decreased nationally, making more kids susceptible to the illness.
Over 500 instances of measles have been documented in Texas this year, and two school-age children have died from the disease. There have been reports of more than 600 cases in 22 states countrywide.
One in five individuals who contract measles will need to be hospitalized due to this extremely contagious acute viral respiratory and skin infection.
After contracting measles, one to three out of every 1,000 children will pass away from respiratory and neurological problems.
The health department is putting a lot of effort into educating doctors and healthcare professionals about measles.
“Doctors younger than myself have never seen measles unless they’ve seen it in the developing world,” Edney added.
The highly contagious respiratory disease known as whooping cough, which gets its name from the “whooping” sound adults make while they are gasping for air after a coughing attack, can start off like a typical cold but persist for weeks or months.
Infants under a year old are particularly vulnerable to whooping cough, which can cause serious consequences and frequently necessitate hospitalization.
In the last six months, whooping cough has claimed the lives of two infants in Louisiana.
The number of pertussis cases in the United States skyrocketed from 5,500 to 35,500 between 2023 and 2024, a seven-fold rise.
According to Tibbs, immunization is the most effective way to protect communities and children from whooping cough and measles. She advises parents of children who are too young to receive the vaccinations to inquire about the immunization records of those who look after their children.
Children should get two doses of the measles vaccination, which is 97% effective at preventing measles for life, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Children under the age of seven receive the pertussis immunization in a five-dose series, while older children and adults receive booster doses.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services canceled more than $200 million in federal payments to the Mississippi State Department of Health for COVID-19 pandemic assistance, claiming the money was a waste of tax dollars.
Edney told that the agency was utilizing a portion of those money to improve and enhance the state’s epidemiology capabilities, including “how we do our surveillance, how we identify when outbreaks are occurring, and how we respond.”
He claimed that the health department’s reporting mechanisms are sufficient for monitoring measles and pertussis epidemics. However, the department’s intended upgrades to the state public health laboratory and its capacity to get ready for new infections would be slowed down by the cuts.
“I think that’s what’s wasteful, not using the money to rebuild public health, but stopping the work halfway through, so now we have a house half-finished with no roof or walls,” Edney stated.
Source: mississippitoday
