Reasons to prevent whooping cough in winter and spring

Doctor Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director, VNVC Vaccination System, said above in the context of Vietnam recording two deaths due to whooping cough in Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai at the end of 2024 and early 2025. The doctor carefully explained the reasons for early disease prevention, especially in the context of the weather changing from winter to spring as follows:

The transmission rate is fast

Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which is more contagious than influenza. On average, one sick person can infect 12-17 people, 80% of people exposed to the disease can be infected. The most infectious time occurs in the first 2 weeks after symptoms appear and is easily confused with normal coughs, making people subjective.

In Vietnam, whooping cough occurs sporadically throughout the year, usually in winter and spring. Cold weather, erratic changes, and high air humidity create favorable conditions for bacteria to grow and spread.

Possible complications in children

In Vietnam, when vaccination has not been applied, whooping cough often occurs and develops into epidemics in many localities. During an epidemic, the disease can easily become severe, causing death due to superinfection, complications of pneumonia, bronchopneumonia, especially children under 5 years old and malnourished children.

Whooping cough can cause rarer central nervous system complications such as seizures and hypoxic encephalopathy. Brain damage can lead to paralysis, hearing and vision damage or mental disorders for children.

The rate of adults getting whooping cough is lower than that of children. Similar to children, adults can experience complications from whooping cough such as pneumonia, bronchitis due to superinfection, weight loss, apnea, insomnia, urinary incontinence, and severe coughing causing rib fractures.

Easily spread in families

Pathogens are transmitted directly through the respiratory tract with secretions from the patient’s nose and throat mucosa when coughing and sneezing. People living in the same family, school… have a 90-100% disease rate if they do not have immunity.

The source of whooping cough transmission is from infected people, there is no source of transmission from healthy carriers or patients who are recovering. On the other hand, signs of the disease are not typical in older children and adults, so the possibility of spreading the disease is higher. Winter-spring with many festivals, including Lunar New Year, increased demand for travel and trade, will be favorable for increasing sources of disease, causing whooping cough to spread quickly.

Vaccination rate is not achieved

According to statistics announced by the Department of Preventive Medicine at the online conference summarizing infectious disease prevention organized by the Ministry of Health on December 27, the whole country will have more than 1,000 cases of whooping cough in 2024, twice as high. 21.9 times compared to 2023.

Meanwhile, the rate of children under one year old being fully vaccinated only reached 84.2%, lower than the level required to prevent the spread of the disease.

Doctor Chinh said this leads to the risk of the disease spreading to children who are not immune and infecting other age groups in the community, increasing the number of hospitalizations. In fact, Vietnam has recorded cases of death or serious illness in children infected with pertussis, most of whom are unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated.

How to prevent disease

The most effective way to prevent whooping cough is to get vaccinated. Currently, pertussis vaccines are available in combination injections such as 6 in 1 (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, Hib, polio), 5 in 1 (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus). tetanus, Hib, polio), 4 in 1 (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio prevention), 3 in 1 (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus prevention).

Children and adults need to be vaccinated early and on schedule to effectively prevent diseases. Besides, the immunity created by the vaccine will decline over time. Adults and children need booster vaccinations according to recommended milestones, including booster shots at 4-6 years old and 9-15 years old, then every 10 years.