A Whooping Cough outbreak has been declared by Alberta Health Services for northern Alberta after cases of the disease have jumped considerably, and some medical professionals are blaming poor immunization for the outbreak. In the North Zone so far there have been more than 180 reports of Whooping Cough. Dr. Albert de Villiers, theAHS medical officer of health, said “This year’s been very busy, (and) it’s been across the whole province. The big reason behind it is because people don’t immunize as much as they should.. About 90% of the cases in kids were kids that were not completely immunized, or were not immunized at all.” Pertussis, or whooping cough as it is commonly called, is an infection caused by a bacteria, and it affects the lungs of the individual. Adults who get the disease may have symptoms but children have complications which can be severe or deadly, especially infants and young children.

The goal to prevent a whooping cough outbreak, or any other disease that can be immunized against, is to have an immunization rate of at least 90%. This rate offers a large degree of herd immunity. In northern Alberta the immunization rate for the disease is between 70% and 76%. The CDC has statistics which show approximately half of the infants who catch whooping cough end up being hospitalized, commonly for pneumonia. With school getting back in swing soon and large numbers of kids in small quarters the number of cases for whooping cough and other communicable disease may go up if parents do not vaccinate their children.