Whooping cough confirmed at Wake County middle school. What parents should know.
Wake County has confirmed a case of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, at Oberlin Magnet Middle School.
It’s one of 20 confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in the county this year.
Parents, whose children may have been exposed between Feb. 13 and 18, were sent a letter Thursday, according to the Wake County Health Department.
There were 49 confirmed cases of pertussis in 2024 in Wake County, and five confirmed cases in 2023, according to the most recent state data on communicable diseases.
“We may be on track for a bad year,” said Dr. Joel Lutterman, Wake County’s medical director.
‘A really terrible noise’
The disease’s name comes from the sound of a desperate gasp for air after a series of coughs. It’s a sound that pediatricians and parents don’t forget.
“They start having these clusters of coughing and they can’t stop,” Lutterman said in an interview. “They often vomit after coughing so much, and that has its own issues associated with it. Sometimes, especially in younger kids, they literally stop breathing. ... It’s a really terrible noise.”
The respiratory illness often begins like the common cold, but intense coughing can last for weeks or months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Whooping cough is most serious to babies and children, especially those who haven’t had the recommended pertussis vaccinations.
North Carolina law requires five doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP/Tdap) vaccine before students start kindergarten and a booster dose in seventh grade.
Vaccination rates have declined across the board for several vaccines, Lutterman said.
“The overwhelming reason we’ve had some of this decreasing vaccination rates is really because of vaccine hesitancy on the parts of the parents,” he said. “There is mis- and dis-information, especially on social media, and people who seem to be all too willing to try virtually anything, especially things that are labeled as ‘natural’ even if there’s virtually no evidence that they’re effective.”
Vaccinations are backed by years and years of solid evidence that shows they are effective at preventing and lessening disease, he said.
There were 35,435 confirmed cases of whooping cough in the United States in 2024, including 757 in North Carolina, according to the CDC. The disease is usually treated with antibiotics.
While rare, the disease can be fatal, especially for babies under 6 months. Complications can include pneumonia, dehydration, seizures and brain damage. Adults and teenagers usually recover without long-term problems, but bruised or cracked ribs and abdominal hernias can be complications, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The number of cases of pertussis went down significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic with the rise of wearing masks and remote learning. Now cases are rising to pre-pandemic levels, according to the CDC.
This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 11:41 AM.
