Even if a national outbreak of whooping cough is declared, there will be no restrictions imposed, as was the case with the COVID-19 pandemic. This was assured by the chief state health inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev on the air of “Hello, Bulgaria”.
“There are about 400 cases so far, and for me this is the beginning of an epidemic, as it is a rare disease and there are quite a few people affected. From Monday and Tuesday there are new 70. However, it will not lead to the closing of establishments and the wearing of masks everywhere. Whooping cough will not strain the health care system to the extent that the coronavirus did. In a hospital, we accept no more than 10% of all infected people, because others take it lightly, especially the immunized ones”, explained the associate professor.
According to him, a large part of the infected have no symptoms and this contributes to the rapid spread of the infection.
He assured that there are enough vaccines against whooping cough. “Demand has grown significantly. According to the companies, there are still 300 doses in the pharmacy network, but not in Sofia. Their assurance is that on Friday they will receive another 2,000 doses”, explained Angel Kunchev.
He added that adults do not need to be vaccinated. “The risk of complications is greatest in children. Let’s be clear that there is no monovaccine for whooping cough. It is within the hexavalent, pentavalent, tetravalent and trivalent,” said the chief state health inspector.
According to him, until now tests for the presence of the disease are done only at the Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases in Sofia. Today, however, the Ministry of Health will make a decision and funds will be allocated to the Regional Health Inspections in Varna, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Pleven, so that people can be tested in more places.
“In 2020, we introduced reimmunization at 12 years old. If adults continue to get sick in the future, whooping cough may be added to the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine that we give at 10 years old,” concluded Kunchev.
Source: New TV
