A 17-year-old boy and two girls – 11 and 10 years old – fell ill. All attend educational institutions in Plovdiv. The boy is in the 11th grade at Dimitar Matevski High School. The class is quarantined from April 22 to May 5. One of the girls studies at St. Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher SU school, she has not attended school since April 8 and the class is not subject to quarantine, as the deadline has passed. The other girl studies at “Stoyan Mihailovski” elementary school, she is in the 3rd grade. The class is in quarantine from May 23rd to May 6th.
Dr. Uchordzhieva also pointed out that the quarantine for whooping cough is not like that for covid. The class is not suspended from school, but is subject to medical supervision. Immunization status of the children as well as the contact children of the class is required.
The medical person observes them, and the director creates an appropriate organization of the learning process so that the children of this class do not see each other with other children in the school – neither in the chair nor during breaks. The teachers visit them in one place, and they do not sit in the classrooms. This is done in order to limit contact with other students as much as possible.
The RZI also points out that in Plovdiv and the region the scope of vaccinated children is 92%, however the infection is spreading.
At this stage, the age of 10 to 14 years is most affected. So far, no children under the age of 1 have been affected.
There have been a total of 11 cases in Plovdiv and the region since April 10. It cannot be claimed yet that there is a boom in the spread of the disease. The cases are growing gradually, day by day.
The first signs are non-specific – fever, cough, which later becomes the leading one. Those who are sick are immune and therefore the clinic is not quite typical.
“We established that the clinical picture is not typical at all, it is not the typical whooping cough with suffocation, they do not have a fever. The disease will progress differently in non-immunized children,” pointed out Dr. Uchordzhieva.
The cough can last for a different time, depending on the severity of the case. the sick are monitored, and the most adequate therapy is antibiotics. If it is carried out correctly and in a timely manner, the outcome is without complications.
Urinary samples have the most proven value. In Plovdiv, they are made in private laboratories. DNA was found in the nasopharynx.
RZI advises that the most important thing parents should do is to vaccinate their children. There is enough vaccine in Plovdiv for all children who are subject to immunization.
“If an immunization was missed back in time and yet it is administered now, at the age when they are subject to immunization, it is still protection,” added Dr. Tanya Uchordzhieva.
