McHenry has recently brought to light the news of a confirmed case of pertussis, or better known as the dreaded whooping cough earlier this week.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. If you were to catch this infection, symptoms include an uncontrollable dry cough followed by a deep inhale in an attempt to catch your breath where you make a high-pitched “whoop” noise resulting in a choking feeling.
As symptoms can take around five to twenty days to appear, the illness starts out as a common cold and slowly develops into severe hacking.
Whooping cough is most commonly spread through physical contact along with contact of contaminated items that anyone infected coughs or sneezes on.
MCHS sent out an email to inform parents of the news, there has clearly been more cases than in previous outbreaks.
“We want to inform you,” MCHS says, “that there have been confirmed cases of Pertussis (Whooping Cough) within our school community.”
If you are informed that you have a whooping cough, you have to stay home and quarantine for at least five days and complete antibiotic treatment.
One away to prevent getting this sickness is to plan ahead and get a vaccine. As some students were vaccinated when they were younger others haven’t gotten it for various reasons. However, MCHS encourages this method of prevention.
“I’m a firm believer in vaccines that have been proven to work,” Registered Nurse at MCHS Tawnee Oates says, “and that’s something that I feel sometimes people aren’t very fond of, but there are vaccines that have eradicated disease and that’s why we get them.”
The Pertussis vaccine (Tdap) is generally very effective in preventing the disease or decreasing the severity of symptoms. Tdap suggests a booster every ten years.
“My only tip is to do your research,” Oates says, “and if you don’t want to be vaccinated, know what the risks are for that and why.”
When MCHS sent out the email, it got people talking. Few became more aware than others.
“They’re making it seem like it’s a big issue,” sophomore Leah Atkinson says. “So I’m guessing it’s getting more common because they had to blast out an email.”
Despite there being only a few medically confirmed cases, germs can still linger. It’s better to be safe than sorry.