Cough bug cases first of the year

FOUR people have been found to have an infectious illness in Townsville.

The people, which include one child, have been treated for whooping cough, or pertussis, and are the first confirmed cases in the Townsville Hospital and Health Service area this year.

There were 39 confirmed cases of whooping cough last year and 80 in 2018 in the Townsville region.

Townsville Public Health Unit director Dr Steven Donohue said at this time last year, there were four cases of whooping cough in the region.

“Whooping cough is a contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis,” he said.

“It is not a virus and we do not have a current outbreak.

“It is transmitted in the same way that colds and flu are and it circulates in the community year-round.”

The child who received treatment for whooping cough had not been to school.

Dr Donohue said whooping cough was highly infectious and could be troublesome.

“The symptoms are a persistent cough that may occur in bouts (often with a breathless ‘whoop’ at the end),” he said.

“Someone with whooping cough is highly infectious only for the first three weeks, but the illness can be passed on to an infant or baby at home.”

Dr Donohue said pertussis pneumonia deaths were rare in Australia because of the “extremely successful national immunisation schedule”.

“All pregnant women should receive a booster vaccine at about 28 weeks which gives babies some immunity from their mother when they are born. Then the vaccine for children is scheduled at two, four and six months.”