According to the center, the disease’s intensification can be influenced by the decreasing number of vaccinated children for several years in a row and the periodicity characteristic of infectious diseases.
Lrytas.lt reminds that the increased incidence of whooping cough has been worrying Lithuanian doctors for some time.
“Those cases that come up again make us think and it’s like going back to the old days. Our somewhat forgotten infectious diseases are coming back,” the head of the Children’s Infectious Diseases Department of the VUL Santaras Clinic Pediatric Center said about whooping cough a few months ago. Dr. Inga Ivaškevičienė.
For the past three years, about 90% of the population has been vaccinated against pertussis in Lithuania. children, and in order to prevent the disease from spreading, vaccination should reach 95 percent, according to the NVSC.
The Center reminds that 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.
A wave of infections has not yet been seen
According to the NVSC, whooping cough affects children of all ages, and newborns and infants are particularly susceptible. Recently, it has been observed that children of an increasingly older (school-age) age, as well as adults, are sick.
This year until August 19. 355 cases of whooping cough were registered in Lithuania, of which 258 were in children under the age of 17 (0-3 years – 60 cases, 4-8 years – 87 cases, 9-17 years – 111 cases) and 97 cases in adults.
Most of those who fell ill (57%) were unvaccinated or did not know their vaccination status.
In the pre-pandemic period, i.e. 2019, the most cases of pertussis were registered in 2009, 2012 and in 2014 (cases 233, 154 and 143 respectively).
In order to protect newborns from whooping cough, from 2023 In Lithuania, pregnant women are recommended to be vaccinated with a vaccine containing a pertussis component. Since last year, pregnant women can get it for free.
The NVSC advises that the incubation period for whooping cough 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. Therefore, it is very important that a person is vaccinated on time and observes the hygiene of coughing and sneezing, according to the NVSC.
2024-08-21 15:10:29