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Whooping cough cases continue to climb in Louisiana.
Four months into 2025, there are now more whooping cough cases in Louisiana than in all of last year.
“We’ve identified 164 cases of whooping cough, and that’s compared to 153 cases that were identified in all of 2024,” says State Epidemiologist Theresa Sokol. “We’ve identified 40 Louisianans that have been hospitalized for pertussis, and about 70% of those hospitalizations have been among young babies that are under the age of one year old.”
Sokol says two infants have died from the illness.
She says the trend is similar across the country, but it’s especially alarming in Louisiana.
“Nationally, the pattern is really kind of returning to a pre-pandemic levels,” says Sokol. “What we’re seeing in Louisiana, though, right now is actually even higher than what we saw each year pre-pandemic.”
Sokol says there are vaccines to protect people from whooping cough, and she especially urges certain women to get vaccinated.
“The absolute best way to protect newborns — you know, those babies that are the most vulnerable to severe complications from a whooping cough infection — is for pregnant women to receive a whooping cough vaccine during each pregnancy,” Sokol says.
You should take extra precautions when around newborns, because they cannot get a whooping cough vaccine until they’re two months old.
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