“This year, the incidence of whooping cough is higher, and to date we have more than 350 children, adolescents and adults who have contracted whooping cough. Usually 7-10 cases were registered each year,” D. Razmuvienė told LRT radio.
The representative of the NVSC notes that the increase in the incidence of whooping cough is not unusual. According to long-term observations, the incidence of this disease increases every few years, but the biggest problem is the decreasing volume of vaccinations.
“This year, within 8 months, there is already (fixed – ELTA) a high number of morbidity and after examining individual municipalities of certain counties, we will see that the scope of pertussis vaccination is quite low. This means that a very large number of children remain unvaccinated,” she said.
According to the epidemiologist, the most dangerous cases and symptoms of the disease usually occur in babies and pregnant women, but despite this, the scope of vaccination in this group is still not high.
“To date, we have almost 100 sick children under the age of three, including only 10% who were incompletely vaccinated. Whooping cough, like other infections, is also very dangerous for pregnant women. They have been vaccinated free of charge since last year, but the activity of pregnant women is still not very active”, said D. Razmuvienė.
According to the NVSC, according to the preventive vaccination calendar for children of the Republic of Lithuania, 2, 4, 6-month-old babies are vaccinated against whooping cough, and booster doses are given to 1.5-year-old, 6-7-year-old and 15-16-year-old children.
The incubation period for pertussis is 5-21 days (usually 7-10), but can be as long as 42 days. The disease is characterized by common cold symptoms, coughing fits that cause vomiting or even respiratory arrest.
Whooping cough spreads very quickly during close contact, when a person coughs or sneezes.
2024-08-26 08:36:34