The number of people suffering from whooping cough is increasing in the region: Black Sea Lighthouse

Donna MITEVA

According to the data of the Regional Health Inspectorate /RZI/ for April – so far there are data on 6 cases of proven whooping cough, one of which is an adult – 62 years old, and the rest are children aged 54-19. The information is dynamic, the inspection specifies. In comparison, it is stated that in February there was only one case of a five-month-old baby who fell ill with whooping cough. In March, one – a 13-year-old child suffered from whooping cough.

“Persons who are in contact with sick people are under medical supervision. And the patient is in self-isolation and also under medical supervision,” RZI emphasizes.

Vaccinations for pregnant women can be administered by them or by their GP, but individuals must purchase them from the pharmacy. There are vaccines available for children up to 16 years of age with a delayed or missed vaccine, the inspection specifies.

Among the duties of GPs is the reimmunization of children aged 16 months, 6 and 12 years for whooping cough, confirmed Dr. Petko Zhelyazkov, chairman of the association of GPs in Burgas. According to him, no parents refused to vaccinate their children.

“These are mandatory vaccines according to our calendar. Only if the mother signs the form refusing vaccination. In my practice, I can say that out of 100-200 children, I have one or two mothers who refuse. But they usually sign up for refusing all immunizations. Otherwise, they are mandatory. Perhaps 98 – 99% coverage has the immunization, especially with children’s vaccines. As for the 12-year-olds, I can say that three of my 10 children are abroad. I cannot say whether they do the immunizations there, who does them – it is not known,” commented Dr. Zhelyazkov.

He emphasizes that vaccines are free for children. These are multivalents that include pertussis and are available. “For example, they are against 6 diseases, one of which is whooping cough,” explains Dr. Zhelyazkov.

According to him, it is very difficult to prove whooping cough – with a urine test, which costs about 60 BGN. “If there are doubts from the clinic about a child in contact in the environment, and he starts coughing, we generally refer him to an infectious disease specialist,” explains the Burgas doctor.

There are no cases of people admitted with whooping cough in the infectious disease department of UMBAL- Burgas.

Pediatricians also warn that there is no point in doing urine tests on healthy children who do not have any symptoms of the disease. Moreover, the health fund generally does not cover such tests, because they are optional, and the disease is vaccine-preventable.

Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It is transmitted by airborne droplets – when coughing, sneezing and exhaled air in close contact, through the secretions containing the causative agent. The disease is highly contagious and most dangerous for children, especially in infancy, where it often develops complications, as well as the elderly.

“As I have said before, prevention is the most important thing with whooping cough. It is a vaccine-preventable disease, and the immunization is included in the mandatory multicomponent vaccines that infants and young children receive.

Studies show that the antibody titer decreases with age. Immunity after a past illness is not lifelong and is similar in duration to post-vaccination – 10-12 years. In this regard, a number of studies prove the so-called “aging of the infection”, which represents an increase in cases among adolescents and adults, who are most often a reservoir for infecting infants and young children”, says Dr. Nikolova, a specialist in virology in a material published on the website of a leading laboratory in Burgas.

The Ministry of Health allowed the first immunization against whooping cough to be administered earlier, a month and a half after birth, and not as laid down in the Immunization Calendar – after the baby’s second month. The reason for this is that at the moment, the most registered cases are those under the age of 1 year, and complications in newborns are more common. This was decided at a meeting with Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, which was attended by the Minister of Health Dr. Galya Kondeva, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science Emilia Lazarova and the Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev.