The incidence of whooping cough is soaring in Europe, including the Czech Republic, and confusion over official guidelines and the public appearance of the controversial mayor of Prague who has whooping cough has raised concerns about whether any lessons have been learned from Covid-19, on Sunday the 17th of March, reports the BBC.
Whooping cough is a contagious lung infection that initially resembles a cold with symptoms such as runny nose and sore throat, but then progresses to severe coughing episodes that last for several minutes and are particularly severe at night.
The number of cases has soared from 28 in the first week of January to now 3 084, the highest since 1963.
Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda, an 80-year-old MP, attended a parliamentary session coughing and sneezing, causing concern among colleagues, one of whom said that at least he could have worn a mask. Svoboda jokingly said he was recovering from a whooping cough, was on the sixth day of a antibiotic course and thought he was no longer infectious. However, according to public health rules, people with whooping cough must stay at home until their antibiotics course is finished.
The Green Party has filed a criminal case against him for “spreading a contagious disease”.
In Prague, the increasing number of whooping cough cases has led to confusion about school protocols. The public health authority in Prague recommended that unvaccinated children should be sent home if a classmate was found to have whooping cough, but the head of the public health authority rejected this.
However, epidemiologists have pointed out the inconsistency, as vaccination against whooping cough, known in Czech as “black cough”, is compulsory in the Czech Republic.
Despite a high infant immunisation rate of around 97%, thousands of Czech babies are still not vaccinated against whooping cough. Health Minister Vlastimil Válek attributed the recent increase in cases to the relaxation of Covid-19 measures and incomplete immunisation of children.
Whooping cough is administered in five stages, the first three of which are given in the first 12 months of life. The last two doses are administered at approximately six and ten years of age.
Although almost all infants receive the first doses, only 90% complete the full course of the vaccine,
which is likely causing an increase in cases among adolescents, the minister said.
Parents are urged to check their children’s vaccination records, while adults are advised to have a booster vaccination.
Before the introduction of compulsory vaccination in 1958, dozens, if not hundreds, of infants and young children died of whooping cough every year in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Experts say that while today’s population is well protected from mass compulsory vaccination, the recent increase in cases poses a risk. Infected adolescents, who may only have a persistent cough, can transmit the disease to vulnerable individuals such as younger siblings and the elderly, whose immunity may be weakened.
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