Chaminade student treated for whooping cough

A student at Chaminade High School in Mineola was diagnosed with pertussis, or whooping cough, according to the Nassau County Department of Health.

The school sent a letter to parents on Thursday alerting them to the diagnosis, said Mary Ellen Laurain of the health department.

The student lives in Suffolk County and is not currently attending school, said Grace McGovern of the Suffolk County Department of Health.

A message left with the school was not immediately returned.

The Nassau health department advised the nurses at Chaminade to "conduct surveillance of the school population and to notify us immediately if there are symptoms," Laurain said. There were no other cases reported.

Pertussis is a contagious bacterial infection with coldlike symptoms or a dry cough that progress to a violent, persistent cough, according to the Suffolk health department. It is dangerous, even fatal, to infants who have not been fully immunized.

Cases of whooping cough have been on the rise, with at least 179 cases reported in Suffolk County this year, said the Suffolk DOH.A student at a Northport elementary school also was recently diagnosed with whooping cough.

In an Oct. 17 letter notifying parents, faculty and staff, and posted on the Northport-East Northport school district website, the Suffolk health department said a student at the Ocean Avenue Elementary School "was contagious with respiratory symptoms from the end of September until Oct. 1."

The district's letter advised of the incubation period of the disease -- usually seven to 10 days, but up to 21 days -- and said if children develop symptoms to contact the family's doctor and request a test for pertussis.

Early treatment will eliminate disease transmission and may reduce the severity of the sickness in the child, the letter said.

Parents are required by the state to have their children vaccinated before enrolling them in public school, pre-K programs or day care.

With Gary Dymski