Whooping cough case at Riverhead school

The Riverhead school district says a case of whooping cough was confirmed in an elementary school last month, raising the number of cases in Suffolk this year to 68 -- one-fifth of those reported in all of 2011.

In a Jan. 31 letter posted on the district's website, Superintendent Nancy Carney says the district "has been notified" of a case of the respiratory disease, also known as pertussis, in Riley Avenue Elementary School.

"Whooping cough is considered to be a highly contagious bacterial infection and it is treated with antibiotics," the letter to parents and guardians says. "If your child has or develops a severe uncontrolled cough, you should contact your doctor immediately."

Since Jan. 1, the number of whooping cough cases in Suffolk County has hit 68, health officials said. From the end of the last school year in June through the present, 27 school districts and 12 private schools have been affected, a health department spokeswoman said.

This year's cases were on top of 303 last year, Suffolk Health Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken said last month.

With whooping cough, "you get peaks and valleys," he said, adding he expects the rate to "drop off, come up, go down again."

Fifty-four cases were reported in 2010, said Suffolk health department spokeswoman Grace Kelly-McGovern.

Three cases have been reported this year in Nassau County, which updated the number of confirmed cases in 2011 to 71, with 15 in November and 20 in December, a spokeswoman said.