Suffolk racks up 195 whooping cough cases

A Northport high school student is the latest to suffer a bout with pertussis -- whooping cough -- bringing to 195 the number of cases investigated by Suffolk County health officials this year, experts said Thursday.

The number of cases includes both actual and probable instances of the highly communicable bacterial infection, said Grace Kelly-McGovern, Suffolk health department spokeswoman.

She said the outbreak began as a small cluster of 11 cases in Smithtown earlier this year.

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.

"Our public health workers are doing a good job of alerting the pediatricians and obstetricians," she said. "So the doctors are looking out for it."

Suffolk is in the midst of the largest pertussis outbreak in five years. Last year, by comparison, only 54 cases were recorded and 75 in 2009. The last time Suffolk's pertussis cases rose past 100 in one year was in 2006.

Despite the increase this year in Suffolk, there is no outbreak in Nassau. Nassau has recorded 45 pertussis cases in 2011, according to the New York State Department of Health. The county reported 27 cases in 2010 and 10 in 2009.

The infection is caused by the Bordetella pertussis microbe and is characterized by what medical textbooks define as a spasmodic cough that ends with a high-pitched crowing sound -- the whoop.

Unvaccinated infants are especially vulnerable to infection, which can be fatal.

The infection can be successfully treated with antibiotics or prevented through vaccinations. Like many vaccines, the pertussis shot, which has different formulations for children and adults, does not always provide 100 percent protection and tends to wane in some people within three years.Two weeks ago, Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken called on the medical community to be on the lookout for the illness. He said early detection and appropriate antibiotic treatment is the key to minimizing symptoms and containing the infection's spread.