Six-month whooping cough outbreak over: AHS

A months-long outbreak of whooping cough that plagued the southern part of the province has been declared over, said Alberta Health Services.

In June, AHS declared an outbreak of pertussis in the authority’s south zone after hundreds of cases of the highly infectious bacterial infection were reported in the region.

Since the outbreak was declared, 388 cases of whooping cough confirmed in the south zone were linked to the outbreak. In total, Alberta has reported some 1,012 cases so far in 2017.

Last year, the south zone had just 58 confirmed cases.

The health authority blamed the outbreak on lower vaccination rates in the area, caused partly by an ingrained suspicion or skepticism found in some local communities.

“We have a large number of kids in these communities not protected by herd immunity because of low vaccination levels, so now we have this outbreak,” Dr. Vivien Suttorp, the lead medical officer for the south zone, said in June.

“Pertussis is almost endemic in southern Alberta.”

Whooping cough immunization is offered for free in Alberta, with a series of doses recommended over the first 18 months of a child’s life, and two more for children aged four to six and again in Grade 9.

Due to the historically lower levels of vaccinations in the south zone, AHS offers the pertussis vaccine to pregnant women in their third trimester to protect vulnerable newborns to the disease. In 2012, whooping cough killed a four-month-old in the region.