'100-day cough' symptoms to be aware of as tenth baby dies of whooping cough and cases surge

The UK Health Security Agency has reported the death of a tenth infant as whooping cough cases surge nationwide, confirming over 10,000 cases via lab tests this year.

Sadly, another baby died in June, bringing the total to ten infants lost in England since the onset of the current "100-day cough" outbreak. May witnessed the highest number of pertussis, commonly called whooping cough, cases with 3,052 lab-confirmed instances, but numbers remained significant in June, recording 2,427 cases.

As per the latest statistics, by the end of June this year, there have been 10,493 confirmed cases, which drastically exceeds the entire count of 856 from 2023, marking an increase of more than tenfold. Notably, the majority (55%, or 5,769) of these cases encompass individuals aged 15 and above who typically experience milder symptoms.

READ MORE: Ten babies have now died from whooping cough - see the suspected cases near you

However, there's grave concern over the 328 cases detected in babies under three months old, who face higher risks of severe complications and death from the illness.

Additionally, the UKHSA received 939 notifications of whooping cough in the week concluding on June 30, with the previous eight weeks each registering over 1,000 cases. General practitioners are obliged to send these notifications to the UKHSA whenever they make a clinical diagnosis of suspected whooping cough.

Clusters of measles cases have emerged in areas beyond the initial outbreak zone in the West Midlands, revealing potential signs of widening outbreaks, with the latest data indicating a rise. The report highlighted that while not all suspected cases are verified through laboratory tests, approximately 23% of those alarms do end up being