Schools on alert for whooping cough symptoms

A Whitefish day camp shut down last week after one of the campers was found to have whooping cough.

The child attended the city of Whitefish day camp on Aug. 2 and Aug. 9.

As a result of the situation, the camp was canceled for the last three days of the season rather than risk any additional cases of whooping cough being spread, city parks director Karl Cozad said in a memo to city manager Chuck Stearns.

The camp had been scheduled to end on Aug. 24 with the start of school this week. Parents of the children that were in attendance on those dates were contacted. Some staff members experienced symptoms consistent with whooping cough.

The Flathead County Health Department was notified of the situation.

Joe Russell, county health officer, said there were two cases of confirmed whooping cough last week in Whitefish.

“We haven’t had any since,” he said. “It’s not clear that we won’t have any in the early part of the school year. We’re hoping schools will watch out for the symptoms.”

Pertussis, known as whooping cough, spreads by coughing or sneezing while in close contact. Symptoms initially resemble the common cold, but coughing continues for several weeks. The cough gradually becomes worse and can have a high-pitched “whoop.”

Immunization is recommended particularly those who are around infants, who can’t begin vaccination until age two month. People need a booster vaccination every 10 years.

Russell said often adults can have whooping cough without any symptoms and then can spread it to children.

“We’ve seen a lot of teachers getting vaccinated,” he said. “Any time we can get educators immunized that’s a good thing.”

More than 70 cases of pertussis have been reported in Flathead County this year.