Infectious cases high

Mumps and whooping cough outbreaks aren’t going away any time soon, according to the Waikato DHB.

The number of cases are piling up all over the country in what has been declared a whooping cough outbreak and a mumps epidemic.

By the end of December, whooping cough cases in Waikato reached 180, much higher than the normal range.

And the duo of nasty infections could keep spreading for another year.

At the moment around a couple of mumps cases are detected every week in Waikato, DHB Medical Officer of Health Richard Hoskins said.

‘‘It’s just been grumbling on since mid-October here with no particular trend other than it just keeps going,’’ Hoskins said.

‘‘[Auckland DHBs] think this could go on for over a year. It wouldn’t surprise me if it does, unfortunately.

‘‘There’s no sign of it going away.’’

Meanwhile, whooping cough cases reached 180 by the end of December, Hoskins said.

Usually there’s between 80 and

120 cases in a year. Nationwide, 2075 confirmed or probable cases of whooping cough have been recorded from January

15, 2017, to January 10, 2018.

‘‘It just took off. We had 80 over those last two months [of 2017] and we’ve had at least another 10 since then.

‘‘We were predicting [this] in October and unfortunately we were right. We have got a sharp increase like the rest of New Zealand.’’

Whooping cough is potentially fatal and is most dangerous for babies, especially when they’re too young to be vaccinated.

Over the last year 1307 cases of mumps have been recorded nationwide.

Mumps is a contagious viral infection of the salivary glands.

Symptoms include jaw pain, fevers, headaches, fatigue, and swelling.

Auckland has been hit the hardest, with 1041 of the total cases reported, spread across the Counties Manukau, Waitemata and Auckland DHBs.

‘‘It’s not just Auckland, but unfortunately people keep thinking that [they are] less likely to have it in some of the other regions,’’ Hoskins said.

‘‘That is not the case here. We have got plenty, unfortunately.’’

Waikato DHB has the fourth highest recordings of cases at 80, with teenagers and adults most commonly affected.

‘‘Unfortunately it is also the age group who have been least well served by the vaccination.

‘‘Until the immunisation registrar and the targets were done, 10, 15 years ago, the coverage wasn’t very good.

‘‘So we have this huge pool – probably 20 per cent of people haven’t had their scheduled [vaccinations].

‘‘It’s people who are very social. It’s people who, with a mild illness, will try to keep working or socialising.’’

Until 2017, no cases had been recorded in Waikato since 2012.

The DHB encourages anyone unsure of whether they have been immunised to check and keep up to date, Hoskins said.

Anyone with symptoms should isolate themselves.

‘‘That’s why this epidemic of mumps is being sustained, because there’s a lot of susceptible people around.

‘‘At least half of those people that are not immune are not immune because they’re not up to date with their MMR vaccines.’’