More whooping cough in Northport schools

Several new cases of pertussis, the highly infectious respiratory illness also known as whooping cough, have turned up in Northport schools, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services announced.

In two letters to parents dated Nov. 23, the county advised that a student at Dickinson Avenue School attended class while contagious from Nov. 4 to Nov. 10, and that the district continues "to have new cases" of the disease at East Northport Middle School.

Previous cases had been reported earlier this month at Northport Middle School and Northport High School.

The Department of Health has said that the county's current outbreak, which totaled 195 cases in mid-November, began with a small cluster of 11 cases in Smithtown, plunging Suffolk County into the largest outbreak of the bacterial infection in five years. Nassau County has not reported an outbreak of the disease, but did have 45 cases so far this year, according to numbers provided in mid-November by the state.

The illness begins with the symptoms of a cold, then enters a stage of severe coughing episodes followed by a sudden intake of breath, leading to the characteristic "whooping" sound. The cough may last for weeks or months, leading it to be called the "cough of 100 days."

Health authorities believe that more physicians are also on alert for the illness, causing more cases to be diagnosed and reported. In addition, protection from immunization can fade over time.

The disease can be fatal in unvaccinated infants.