Philly Burbs Center of Pennsylvania Whooping Cough Outbreak

The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the number of cases of pertussis/whooping cough nationally is the MMWR for Week 47, with data through Nov. 27, 2010. The state of Pennsylvania ranks fifth nationally in the number of reported cases.

According to CDC historical data, Pennsylvania has averaged 462 cases of pertussis for the last decade. There were 599 cases, provisionally, in 2009 in the state and 754 through Nov. 30 in 2010. The whooping cough case counts for 2009 and 2010 represent the highest two years of the last 10.

Holli Senior, the press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, in an e-mail provided a list of whooping cough case counts by county through the end of November. The data are provisional, based upon additional investigation and reporting to follow. The pertussis outbreak in Pennsylvania is clearly centered in the southeastern part of the state, around the City of Philadelphia.

There have been 754 cases of pertussis or whooping cough in Pennsylvania in 2010. The two counties with the highest case count are Delaware County, reporting 110 cases, followed by York with 80. The five-county region around the city of Philadelphia reports 319 cases year to date, 42 percent of the statewide total. Those counties are: Bucks - 45 cases, Chester - 30 cases, Delaware - 110 cases, Montgomery - 74 cases and Philadelphia county with 60 cases.

One of the larger clusters of pertussis cases in Montgomery County has been at the Bryn Athyn Church School. WPVI in Philadelphia, which reports 16 confirmed cases of whooping cough at the school and up to 60 suspected cases.

Outside of metro Philadelphia, York County has 80 cases of pertussis, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh have 45 and rural Venango County has 51.

The Delaware County Department of Intercommmunity Health Coordination and the Montgomery County Health Department have been offering immunization clinics throughout the fall. The State of Pennsylvania and other counties in the state have also held clinics and are scheduling more. Many are free or at low cost. Contact the local county health department for further information and clinic dates.

Pennsylvania is one of 20 states that permits parents to refuse to immunize their children based upon some form of strongly held personal belief. That provision reads:

"Children need not be immunized if the parent, guardian or emancipated child objects in writing to the immunization on religious grounds or on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief."