NZ's biggest hotspots for whooping cough revealed

Health NZ Te Whatu Ora urges people to vaccinate against the virus. Photo / File

• Health officials declared a whooping cough epidemic, with 263 cases reported in four weeks.
• Wairarapa has the highest infection rate at 25.4 cases per 100,000 people.
• Te Whatu Ora urges vaccination, highlighting the risk to infants, with 50% needing hospitalisation.

By RNZ

The lower North and South Islands are the biggest hotspots for whooping cough as an epidemic sweeps the country, official data shows.

Health officials on Friday declared a whooping cough epidemic and put a nationally coordinated response in place.

There have been 263 cases of whooping cough in the four weeks to November 15 – the highest number of cases over a month to date for all of 2024, Health NZ Te Whatu Ora said.

The latest data collated by ESR showed the highest rates of infection were in Wairarapa, Southern, Whanganui and Capital and Coast health districts.

It broke down rates of infection in the four weeks to November 8.

Wairarapa had 13 cases, which was by far the highest rate at 25.4 cases per 100,000 people.

That was followed by Southern at 11.6 (42 cases), Whanganui at 11.4 (8 cases) and Capital and Coast at 10.4 (34 cases).

Te Whatu Ora was urging people to get vaccinated, and said babies are particularly vulnerable to the life-threatening infection.

“Around 50% of pēpi who catch whooping cough before the age of 12 months need hospitalisation and 1 or 2 in 100 of those hospitalised pēpi die from the infection,” said public health medicine specialist Dr Matt Reid.

“While there have been no deaths so far during 2024, sadly, three infants died last year from whooping cough, and we want to stop that from happening again.”

Whooping cough: What you need to know

• Childhood vaccinations to protect against whooping cough are needed at ages six weeks, three months and five months, and again at four years
• A further booster is given at age 11 years (school year 7).
• Vaccination is free for pregnant women.
• Adults are eligible for one free booster from age 45 (if they have not had four previous tetanus doses) and can get one free from age 65.
• Whooping cough causes breathing difficulties and severe coughing fits. The cough can go on for weeks or months which is why it is sometimes called the “100-day cough”. 
• People are most infectious in the early stages - with the first signs of whooping cough usually appearing around 1 week after infection

Symptoms (after about one week):

• A blocked or runny nose 
• Sneezing 
• A mild fever 
• Uncontrollable coughing fits that last for a few minutes 
• Coughing that leads to vomiting 
• A thick mucus that can make you vomit or choke
• During coughing spells, young babies may gasp for air and may briefly stop breathing and turn blue

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