In 2012, there have been 640 cases of the disease in the state,
compared to 94 during the same time period last year. The state
is on pace to have its largest number of whooping cough cases in
decades, KNDO reports. The state health department urged people
to protect themselves from getting the contagious disease and
spreading it, particularly to infants, by getting vaccinated.
Children should get vaccinated against whooping cough by age
seven. The past two years has seen dozens of Washington babies
hospitalized with whooping cough, including four deaths. While
people of all ages can get whooping cough, adults have lesser
symptoms and may not realize that a nagging cough is a result of
an infection with the disease. Maxine Hayes, the Washington
state health officer, said that most cases of whooping cough go
unreported and that the department is just as concerned about
such infections. “The hospitalizations and the deaths are the
tip of the iceberg,” Hayes said, according to KNDO. “There are
so many individual