Whooping Cough Outbreak Amongst Vaccinated Students in Whitemarsh, Montgomery County

Five high school students from the Plymouth Whitemarsh School District have been reported to have caught a case of whooping cough, clinically known as pertussis. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on this outbreak today and appeared to downplay the situation.

“Health officials called the rise in cases part of a typical cycle that the region sees from time to time.

‘We see a wave going up and down over time, and this happens to be one of the peaks,’ said Rich Lorraine, the medical director at the county’s public health office. ‘There’s no specific reason or cause as to why there might be a higher amount now, and it is within the range we’ve seen in the past.'”

Although this doesn’t appear to be a story significant enough to warrant an article in a major newspaper, it quotes Montco’s medical director’s advice to residents that they “should make sure they are up to date on their vaccines. There will be an online town hall meeting for residents to ask questions about vaccines next Tuesday. The questions asked should directly address the reasons why, after five doses of the pertussis vaccine, an outbreak occurred in these vaccinated students.