Whooping cough may have peaked in Suffolk

The number of whooping cough cases in a recent Smithtown outbreak has tailed off over the past two weeks, suggesting the peak has passed, Suffolk health officials said Monday.

The total number of cases in the outbreak has reached 71, up from 56 at the end of June, but the number of new cases has grown at a much slower rate than when health officials first began identifying them in mid-June. The majority of cases were associated with three schools.

"The rate is lessening," said county health spokeswoman Grace Kelly-McGovern, who attributed some of the more recent diagnoses to heightened awareness that grew out of publicity surrounding the outbreak.

Doctors were more likely to suspect the highly communicable infection and order tests for it, Kelly-McGovern said.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, whooping cough was a major cause of disability and death, especially in children. The pertussis bacterium produces a toxin that accelerates the formation of thick mucus in the lungs, which drives an uncontrollable urge to cough. The bacterium is spread by airborne saliva droplets.

Among childhood diseases, it is one that did not fully disappear in the United States with the advent of routine vaccination. But people who contract pertussis despite vaccination tend to have a less-difficult bout with the respiratory infection.