Whooping cough: Cases soar in US

The US has reported 6600 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in the first three months of 2025, more than four times the number at the same point last year and 25 times as many as had been reported at the same point in 2023.

If the current trend continues, the country will be on course for the highest number of infections since vaccination was introduced in 1948.

The state of Louisiana last week reported that two people had died from pertussis in the past six months. Both were infants, who are most at risk of serious complications. Two other US deaths have been reported this year: a school age child in North Dakota and an adult in Idaho.

Pertussis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2014 there were 24.1 million cases and 160 700 deaths in children under 5 worldwide.

The number of cases typically rises and falls in cycles lasting three to four years. Previous global spikes occurred in 2012 and 2016, but none was …