The first case of whooping cough in Ruse was found in a child. The sample was taken in the “Health” laboratory, Dr. Rozina Mircheva, who is a microbiologist and manager of the laboratory, told BRYAGNYUZ.
“Whooping cough” mainly affects children, but adults can also get sick. “This is a vaccine-preventable infection, but for various reasons, many children are not vaccinated or miss one of the revaccinations, which reduces immunity. If we all observe the immunization calendar, we can forget about this disease,” explained Dr. Mircheva.
Dr. Mircheva added that, according to statistics, the death rate from whooping cough is 1 in 1,000. However, this disease is severe, warns Dr. Mircheva. “The strong cough continues for a very long time, in younger children and with a poorly stimulated immune system, it can lead to very serious problems, bleeding, nausea, vomiting, continuous choking with coughing,” Dr. Mircheva described the symptoms.
In addition to children, adults can also get sick. After vaccination and revaccination, it happens that the immunity is not as durable as in some other diseases, it is about 10-12 years. “With our immunization calendar, the last re-immunization is done at the age of 12. In the situation that has arisen, however, experts recommend revaccination at 10 years of age, in order to cover adults as well”, said Dr. Mircheva. She believes that it is very important for pregnant women to be reimmunized so that the baby is protected during the first two months after birth.
Experts believe that if a pregnant woman is vaccinated in the last trimester,
there will be time for antibodies to build up and pass on to the baby and it will be protected, and there is no danger to the fetus from this immunization. Whooping cough is airborne and the disease is highly contagious. To establish the presence of the bacteria that causes whooping cough, a DNA test is performed, the expert explained. “Doctors still don’t have the direction to think about this diagnosis because it’s a forgotten disease. For many years, due to the frequent immunizations, it was almost unknown to us, but recently, with the refusal of some mothers to immunize their children, a breakthrough occurred, not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe”, emphasized Dr. Mircheva.
With cases of pertussis on the rise in our country, the caretaker prime minister yesterday brought together health and education authorities to come up with a plan to combat the disease. Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev held a meeting with 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.
A decision was made
Ministry of Health to allow the first pertussis immunization
to be administered earlier, another 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.
Minister Kondeva pointed out that the situation is constantly monitored, and the increase in morbidity is not a surprise to experts, since such peaks are usually observed in a period between 3 and 5 years. This was confirmed by Associate Professor Kunchev, pointing out that an increase in cases has been observed since the middle of last year in various countries in Europe and around the world. In Bulgaria, the registered cases of whooping cough are 314, compared to 4 for the same period in 2023.
During the meeting, the organization of kindergartens and schools where children with pertussis symptoms should not be admitted was also discussed. The authorities call on parents to also be responsible and, at the slightest doubt, stop their children from attending educational institutions and seek medical help.
The Ministry of Education and Culture is ready to respond to an increase in morbidity and, if necessary, distance learning will be introduced in an electronic environment for individual classes. Prime Minister Glavchev was confident that the State Matriculation Examinations and the National External Assessment will be conducted normally and no children will be harmed.
