2 more Suffolk students get whooping cough

A student in the Southold school district and another in the Northport district have whooping cough, officials said Friday, as the number of cases this year in Suffolk County rose past 200.

The Southold Union Free School District notified parents in a letter Thursday that a student in the Southold Junior-Senior High School had contracted pertussis, or whooping cough, said a spokeswoman from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.

The letter said the student was infectious with the highly contagious disease while attending school from Oct. 20 through Nov. 10. No other information about the student was provided in the letter.

Health department spokeswoman Grace Kelly-McGovern said the school was notified of the infected student on Thursday, the day the letter was sent to parents.

Also Friday, at least one more case was reported at Northport High School. Kelly-McGovern said she did not know whether that case involved a student or a staff member.

The two latest cases bring the number to 203 this year that have been reported in Suffolk County, after 54 cases last year and 75 in 2009.

Health officials suspect one reason more cases have been diagnosed recently is because doctors are more aware of an upsurge in local pertussis cases. Physicians, therefore, are less likely to dismiss a chronic cough as the common cold.

There is no outbreak in Nassau County. Last week, Nassau reported 45 pertussis cases so far in 2011. The county reported 27 cases in 2010 and 10 in 2009.

The bacterial infection is characterized by a spasmodic cough. Unvaccinated infants are especially vulnerable to infection, which can be fatal.

With Delthia Ricks