Babies at risk as ‘serious infection’ spreads

Pregnant mums and parents of little babies are being urged to get vaccinated as a dangerous new whooping cough wave hits South Australia.

SA chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier, at a press conference on Monday, said the state had recorded 492 cases year-to-date and “week-on-week” numbers were “increasing”.

“We are definitely having a wave of whooping cough,” she said.

“Whooping cough is a serious infection, particularly when we think about our youngest and most vulnerable South Australians, and that is little tiny babies.”

Professor Spurrier said the “serious infection” tended to arrive in waves, with the last serious wave hitting SA in 2016-17.

A smaller wave struck in 2020, she said.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is characterised by a long bout of coughing and then a large inhalation of air that sounds as though someone is “whooping”.

It is particularly dangerous for babies because as they cough, they are not getting oxygen in.

The disease spreads when “an infected person talks, coughs or sneezes small droplets containing infectious agents into the air”, SA Health states.

“The droplets in the air may be breathed in by those nearby. Infection may be spread by contact with hands, tissues and other articles soiled by infected nose and throat discharges.

“Whooping cough is highly infectious, spreading to 70 to 100 per cent of susceptible household contacts and 50 to 80 per cent of susceptible school contacts.”

Symptoms of whooping cough include a runny nose, sore or watery red eyes, low-grade fever and general unwellness, SA Health said.

After three to seven days, a dry cough develops.

The cough could last for weeks and even months, Professor Spurrier warned.

Whooping cough can be deadly. It kills about 250,000 children every year and surviving children can be left with brain damage.

Professor Spurrier urged all South Australians to vaccinate against the virus.

“Make sure that you have had your whooping vaccine,” she said.

She said getting a vaccine during pregnancy passes on protective antibodies to the baby.

Vaccinations for babies have been brought forward from eight weeks to six.

“I am concerned this year we might be in for quite a significant wave,” she said.

“Most of all is thinking about those little tiny bubs who are so vulnerable to whooping cough.”

Professor Spurrier also warned that whooping cases were rising in the eastern states.