WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory infection and it's on the rise here in McLennan County.
The Waco-McLennan County Public Health District told 25 News that reports are five times higher this year compared to the numbers of last year.
A spokesperson for the district said 2025 reports are currently at 67 cases. In all of 2024, there were 12 cases reported.
Texas has had more than 3,500 reported pertussis (whooping cough) cases through October this year, roughly four times the number reported for the same period last year, according to the Texas Dept. of State Health Services.
Last week the department said, "this is the second consecutive year that Texas is experiencing high year-over-year increases in reported pertussis cases and the second consecutive year DSHS has issued a health alert."
A Waco pediatrician with Baylor Scott and White, Dr. Samuel Clark, said he’s seeing maybe 3-4 cases a week in his clinic compared to the typical one or two cases a season.
Dr. Clark says whooping cough is its most contagious in the early weeks of catching it and symptoms can look similar to allergies adding the best way to prevent it is to get vaccinated.
“I’m not sure that we would call this like a pandemic or anything like that but certainly I agree that we’ve seen more cases maybe over the last couple of years,” Dr. Clark said.
“And we’ve just had a few less vaccines or people that vaccinate over the last several years and that’s really what’s kinda driven some of these rates a lot hit higher" Dr. Clark added.
As reported in an article by The Texas Tribune this week, experts agree that a decline in vaccination rates are contributing to the higher illness rates.
Dr. Clark said outside of vacations, hand washing is also a good way to prevent spending whooping cough.
Experts say while anyone can catch whooping cough, babies, people who are not fully vaccinated or unvaccinated are at risk of having more severe symptoms and potentially being hospitalized.
