Total number of cases this year is now 23.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Eight more cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, have been reported in Onondaga County, bringing the total number of cases for the year to 23.
Pertussis is a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes an uncontrollable, violent cough lasting several weeks or even months.
The latest cases include seven children and one adult located throughout the county, said Dr. Cynthia Morrow, the county’s health commissioner. All the previous cases this year involved children.
“We just want anybody who has a persistent or severe cough to contact their health care provider,” Morrow said. “The biggest challenge is it presents like a cold with a cough and it often does not get diagnosed until several weeks into the illness.”
There is a childhood vaccine for pertussis, but it is not 100 percent effective. People who have been vaccinated and get pertussis usually get a milder version of the disease, Morrow said.
A five-day course of antibiotics is used to treat pertussis and children must stay home from school while they undergo treatment, Morrow said.
Onondaga County had about 180 cases of pertussis in 2004, an unusually high number. Last year there were 12 cases.