Centereach High student has whooping cough

A student at Centereach High School has whooping cough, or pertussis, the Middle Country school district said.

The student "attended school with symptoms and was contagious from Oct. 17 through Oct. 27," the district said Wednesday on its website.

The posting also included information on the disease, which is a highly contagious infection of the respiratory system, and a notification letter dated Wednesday that the district sent to parents.

Late last month, leading public-health authorities issued an alert for doctors to be on the lookout for the condition.

The case is among several that have been recorded by Long Island health officials so far this year. In Suffolk, the number of reported pertussis cases has more than tripled compared with last year.

Suffolk has reported about 180 pertussis cases to the state Department of Health this year, compared with 54 cases in 2010 and 75 cases in 2009. Nationwide, 27,550 cases of pertussis were reported in 2010, up from 16,858 cases in 2009.

The last time Suffolk cases rose past 100 in a year was 2006. A similar upsurge has not been recorded in Nassau.

So far this year Nassau has recorded 45 pertussis cases, according to the state health department. The county reported 27 cases in 2010 and 10 in 2009, according to state statistics.

Whooping cough is a bacterial infection that has plagued communities for centuries. The first pertussis vaccine was developed in the 1930s.

The condition is typified by a barking cough -- the whoop -- which can be so violent sufferers are unable to catch a breath.

The pertussis bacterium accelerates formation of mucus in the lungs that drives the urge to cough. "It's sometimes called the 100-day cough," said Dr. Dennis Russo of Suffolk's department of health.

Epidemiologist Dr. Lara Misegades at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the condition tends to wax and wane in cycles and it is impossible to tell whether Suffolk is a cycle now.

With Delthia Ricks