Australia experiencing its worst whooping cough epidemic on record

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Health researchers say Australia is in the midst of a whooping cough epidemic, which is expected to continue into summer. Authorities are urging parents to make sure their kid's vaccinations are up to date.

Transcript

00:00Australia has recorded more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough so far this year, a record

00:08high for whooping cough cases in Australia, beating the previous record set back in 2011

00:14when more than 38,000 cases were recorded.

00:17It's got health experts worried, children especially at risk, especially those infants

00:22under six months old who are too young to be immunised themselves.

00:27Of course whooping cough can just be such a severe, uncontrollable cough that can stick

00:31around in the body for so long and in its most extreme cases can be fatal.

00:36When you look at the case numbers over the past few years, you can see just how dramatic

00:40the current epidemic is.

00:41We haven't seen numbers like this in more than a decade.

00:45Experts say it is common for whooping cough cases to spike every three or four years as

00:51the cough spreads through the community.

00:53But the last spike, which was expected around 2020, didn't happen because of the pandemic

00:58lockdown laws and now it seems we're paying the price.

01:01When you look at it on a state by state breakdown, New South Wales at the moment bearing the

01:05brunt, more than 19,000 cases recorded there.

01:09That's more than 20 times the number of cases that the state recorded the year prior, followed

01:15by Queensland with more than 11,000 cases and here in Victoria more than 7,500 cases

01:21recorded.

01:22Health experts saying that it's so important to make sure your vaccinations and your children's

01:26vaccinations are up to date.

01:29Vaccination rates for whooping cough are still very high, well above 90 per cent right around

01:33the country, but experts who have spoken to have said they have dropped slightly since

01:37the pandemic by a percentage point or two and because whooping cough is so highly contagious,

01:43that could have quite an impact on its spread.

01:46Just one unvaccinated child could spread whooping cough to 17 other children.

01:52So of course the message for families right around the country, make sure your vaccinations

01:56are up to date and if you or your children have symptoms, make sure they stay away from

02:01others.

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