Health Department Urges Whooping Cough Vaccination

With a pertussis (whooping cough) epidemic being declared in Washington state as well as an increase in cases reported in Montana, officials with the Wyoming Department of Health are urging Wyoming residents to make sure their children are vaccinated against the disease. Spokeswoman Kim Deti also says that since very young babies may be too young to receive the full series of whooping cough vaccinations, adults who are exposed to infants may want to receive a whooping cough booster shot, assuming they received the whooping cough vaccinations as children.

In Washington state more than 1100 cases of whooping cough prompted state officials there to declare the disease an epidemic. Montana is reporting 90 diagnosed cases of the disease, while 13 cases have been diagnosed so far this year in Wyoming. Deti says all of those figures might actually be low, since some cases are likely not diagnosed and reported.