Transmitted via direct contact with an infected person or ingesting droplets from them coughing and sneezing, according to data from Poland’s National Institute of Public Health, cases have increased by a staggering 23 times this year.
In 2023, in the same period, 527 cases were reported, while in 2022 the institute confirmed around 180 cases.
Doctors believe that because the symptoms are similar to the common cold, the number is likely to be higher, and many cases go unreported.
The EU’s public health agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, revealed similar patterns across Europe, with more than 32,000 cases reported between January and March this year. But it added that similar numbers were reported in 2016 (41,026) and 2019 (34,468).
According to the EU agency, larger epidemics of the disease are to be expected every three to five years.
Pertussis, the scientific name of the illness, is an infectious respiratory disease endemic to Europe.
At the initial stage of infection, people experience the same symptoms as the common cold, such as sneezing, runny nose, low-grade fever, and a mild cough.
After a week, the cough can get more severe and develop into a “whooping cough,” which gets its name from the “cock crowing” sound sick people make as they cough. This “whooping cough” often leads to nausea and lasts around two weeks.
While the disease can be contracted by people of any age, it severely impacts infants under one year of age, with risks of death. It is also increasingly affecting young adults aged 10 to 20, according to the EU agency.
Between January 2023 and April 2024, the EU agency recorded 19 deaths in Europe, with June seeing the death of a one-month-old baby, the first fatality in Poland this year.
Although cyclical in nature, the epidemic can also be ascribed to the lack of vaccinations. In Poland, pertussis vaccination is part of the mandatory vaccination program; it is administered as part of the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) combined vaccine.
