US Confirms Most Whooping Cough Fatalities Since 2017

CBS News (2/11, Tin) reports, “The U.S. confirmed at least a dozen deaths from whooping cough last year, according to preliminary figures released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” That number “marks the most fatalities from the bacterial infection since a 2017 surge of the illness, which is also known as pertussis.” Over the past “month, pertussis infections have been rising again.” Although “cases reported to the CDC by health departments dipped over the winter holidays, weekly infections have accelerated for a month straight since then.” No less than “360 pertussis cases were reported nationwide in last week’s update to the CDC’s tally of infections.” According to CBS News, “cases are up 27% from the week before.”