The whooping cough epidemic in Croatia is spreading, and the number of patients, of whom 1,230 have been registered so far, is the highest in the last 40 years, said Bernard Kaić, an epidemiology specialist at the Croatian Institute of Public Health.
“It is worrisome that such a large number of patients increases the chance of infecting a newborn or an infant who has not yet been vaccinated, because for them the disease can be severe and even fatal,” said Kaić.
He stated that most of the patients are between the ages of 10 and 14, Croatian media reported, which reported that the most infected were in Zagreb and Split.
Head of the School Medicine Department at the Public Health Training Institute, Tatjana Petričević Vidović, said that adolescents are mostly vaccinated and that whooping cough is not that dangerous, and complications are rare.
“The disease has three stages. The general symptoms in the initial stage are fever and sniffling. In the second stage, there is a strenuous, debilitating cough, often at night with a strong inhalation and may be accompanied by vomiting. Then follows the third stage of recovery, which can last for weeks or even months “, she explained.
Whooping cough /pertussis/ represents an acute and highly contagious bacterial infection of the respiratory system, and the risk of illness and complications is greatest in unvaccinated newborns. Incompletely vaccinated young children, older children and adults, without characteristic symptoms of the disease, can also get sick.
