Whooping cough “endemic” in UK children

Nearly two-fifths of British schoolchildren seeing GPs with persistent cough complaints have a form of whooping cough infection, scientists have claimed.

Research published today in the online British Medical Journal (BMJ) shows that 37.2 per cent of those who had suffered from a cough for at least a fortnight had been infected by the Bordetella pertussis disease, leading them to conclude that whooping cough is “endemic” in Britain.

Scientists from the University of Oxford used local schoolchildren in their study.

They show that doctors are failing to diagnose the presence of the whooping cough infection in older children thanks to a general belief that the disease occurs more commonly in infants and only when the well-known “whoop” symptom is present.

“For school age children presenting to primary care with a cough lasting two weeks or more, a diagnosis of whooping cough should be considered even if the child has been immunised. Making a secure diagnosis of whooping cough may prevent inappropriate investigations and treatment,” the report concludes.

Whooping cough is one of the most contagious bacterial infections. Although it had been known that neither immunisation nor infection guarantee lifelong immunity, the extent of the disease in schoolchildren in the UK has not yet been fully recognised.

“A secure diagnosis of pertussis will allow general practitioners to give parents an ndication of the likely length of cough and prevent them prescribing unnecessary drugs for asthma or referring children for further investigations,” the report pressed.

Around nine people die of whooping cough every year in the UK.

© Adfero Ltd