In recent years, fewer than 1,000 cases of whooping cough have been diagnosed in Flanders, but this year (until April 12) the count is already at 672. Most cases occur in Flemish Brabant (237) and Antwerp (207).
About half are children between 4 and 14 years old. For them, whooping cough is usually harmless and hospitalization is rare. But they can infect younger brothers or sisters, to whom the disease can cause a lot of harm. This is certainly the case with newborns. Of the 50 children under one year old with whooping cough, 23 had to go to hospital. 21 of them were younger than six months.
Breathlessness
“Newborn babies can become short of breath and weak due to heavy coughing fits. We therefore emphasize how important it is to vaccinate the baby itself quickly and in a timely manner and to also vaccinate the mother during every pregnancy,” says Joris Moonens of the Department of Care.
With several injections, a baby is well protected after four to six months. “To bridge those first months of life, a pregnant woman is best vaccinated between weeks 24 and 32 of pregnancy. In this way she passes on antibodies,” Moonens explains.
In Flanders, 15 percent of mothers would not be vaccinated. And among babies, the vaccination rate is on a downward trend, show figures from the Growing Up Agency up to and including 2021. Of babies born in 2017, 95.6 percent still received a first shot against whooping cough. For babies born in 2021, that number was significantly lower at 93.2 percent.
However, vaccination is free. A complete schedule includes injections at eight, twelve and sixteen weeks, at 15 months and when the child is 6 years and 14 years old. Adults should ideally be vaccinated every ten years thereafter.
One hundred days
Someone with whooping cough can cough for weeks and be contagious for weeks. Hence the nickname of the condition: the hundred-day cough. The complaints often resemble a normal cold, but after one or two weeks a cough follows that becomes increasingly worse. This can be a noticeably ‘barking’ cough, with tough mucus.
Babies can become exhausted from coughing, causing them to stop drinking. Excessive coughing can cause a lack of oxygen, resulting in brain damage. Sometimes infected babies do not cough, but occasionally stop breathing. They can then turn blue. In rare cases, whooping cough is fatal.
Those who have only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all can spread the disease without realizing it. This can be done by coughing, sneezing or simply breathing. The bacterium can float through the air, scientific research showed in 2012.
