Whooping cough kills five-week-old baby

The UK Health Security Agency has warned of a decline in uptake of the vaccine in pregnant women and children

A five-week-old baby from Rugby has died from whooping cough, public health officials have said.

The death was confirmed at a meeting of Warwickshire's health and wellbeing board while addressing concern over the surge in cases nationally.

Data published via the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows three cases in Rugby in the past week, seven in the past fortnight and 35 cases for the year up to 4 May.

Earlier this month the agency said 1,319 cases had been flagged nationally in March 2024, following on from 918 in February and 556 in January.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial infection that affects the lungs.

After about a week, infection can develop into bouts of coughing that last for a few minutes and typically get worse at night.

There have been five infant deaths this year with the highest rate of infection seen in the group that is most vulnerable – babies younger than three months old.

'Increase in cases'

Warwickshire’s director of public health Dr Shade Agboola told the meeting: “We have been busy in the health protection space in the past couple of weeks.

“The information out there in the media around pertussis, whooping cough, and the increase in the number of cases has unfortunately impacted us.

“We had a death from pertussis a couple of weeks ago in a five-week-old baby in Rugby. We are working closely with the UK Health Security Agency to come up with a range of actions to support that particular community where the death has happened.”

Officials said it could be a bumper year for cases. The last peak year, 2016, saw 5,949 cases in England.

The UKHSA said there had been a steady decline in uptake of the vaccine in pregnant women and children.

Government advice states those diagnosed should stay at home until 48 hours after starting antibiotics, or three weeks if they have not had antibiotics.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.