Cases of whooping cough have quadrupled in Canberra since April

Last year only one case was recorded in the same period.

The respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis, is said to be highly contagious. It can spread simply by inhaling the air around an infected person who is coughing or sneezing.

"We are aware that we're seeing an increase in whooping cough activity in some states and territories," president of the ACT Australian Medical Association Kerrie Aust said.

In the ACT, there were 17 cases reported in the year to March 2024. There were more than that in April alone, and numbers jumped again in May. June is also on track to record a high number.

Once infected, whooping cough can last up to six weeks and in rare cases causes scarring in the lungs.

"We'd definitely encourage everybody to check to make sure that their vaccines are up to date," Dr Aust said.

Infections were highest among children and young people in the ACT. There were 64 notifications among those aged 19 years old and under.

Dr Aust said the AMA recommended all pregnant people got a whooping cough vaccine between 20-32 weeks of pregnancy, while carers of young children make sure they had got their shot in the last 10 years.

Whooping cough vaccines for children are free as part of the National Immunisation Program.

For adults, prices may differ but the vaccine Boostrix, which includes a pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria shot costs between $45 and $75.

Although Phillip GP Dr Nik Jaiswal had not diagnosed cases in his own patients, he was told of its prevalence in schools.

"There were a couple of clusters in high schools so parents had brought their kids to be tested for whooping cough," he said.

"Most kids in ACT are immunised against it. But it can be distressing for the child, parents and teachers because [the] cough can be persistent."

An ACT Education Directorate spokesperson told The Canberra Times it had not received reports of clusters of whooping cough in any public schools.

Dr Jaiswal said the infection usually begins with a runny nose and sometimes a dry cough in children. He said antibiotic prescriptions only reduced infectivity, not the duration of the cough.

He said whooping cough is very serious in babies as their lungs and coughing reflexes are not fully developed.

"Babies less than 6 months old. They are hospitalised [because] there's a risk of choking and hypoxia," he said.

"We have a program where [newborns] are immunised at six weeks and four months old. Prior to the six weeks anyone who comes into contact needs to get immunised."

More than 3000 infections were recorded in Australia in the first three months of 2024.

Since then, cases have more than doubled between April and June this year with 6855 notifications recorded nationally. In this period, Queensland and NSW have reported more than 2900 notifications in each state.

Do you know of anyone who has had whooping cough? Let us know in the comments