Cases of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) are cropping up in Southern Manitoba. Dr. Shelley Buchan, Medical Officer of Health for Southern Health explains since the spring they've seen nearly 30 cases scattered in a number of communities including Morris, Niverville and Emerson. The bacterial infection starts as a low-grade fever and runny nose before progressing over a week to ten days to severe coughing, which can last up to several weeks,

"Because of the size of their airways, infants are at most risk," Buchan says.

Most of the cases they've seen come from family clusters, with 20 cases confirmed in August alone.

"The people at most risk are sharing the same household," Buchan says

Cases have also been found in other parts of the country, including Alberta and Nova Scotia. Buchan says outbreaks are often cyclical.

"Often times we'll have some Pertussis or Whooping Cough somewhere in the Province in any given year but the last time our region had a bigger increase like we're seeing right now was in 2012," Buchan says. "So we see it's cyclical, it will come back every few years and our main concern is particularly with the very young children because they're the ones who have the most difficulty."

The best course of action is to make sure vaccinations are up to date, to ensure everyone's immunity is at a high enough level to minimize the spreading of the illness to the high risk infants. 

"If we weren't vaccinated we would just be seeing Pertussis routinely happening everywhere, all the time," Buchan says.

If you are having symptoms, seek medical attention immediately, Buchan says, adding once the infection has been confirmed by laboratory, Public Health will follow up with each case to try and identify high risk contacts.

"We provide, in conjunction with the family doctors, a preventative antibiotic to try and limit any illness actually happening if they have been exposed," Buchan says.

Knowing the kind of illnesses going around is important for the public and family doctors when symptoms do appear, Buchan says.

"We're doing our best to try to make sure people are aware of what's available to them and keep them up to date. And then when we do start seeing clusters of illnesses, then we let the health care providers also know so they know what's out there. Because lots of people can have sniffles and coughs but we want them to know what's circulating so that they can keep that in mind and test and treat appropriately."