Two weeks after a case of whooping cough popped up at the middle school comes word that there’s one at Verona High School now too.
Shirley Bush, the nurse at VHS, e-mailed parents about it today. Bush says that if a child develops a cough or has a persistent cough, parents should call the doctor and tell him or her that there is a case of pertussis–the formal name for whooping cough–in VHS.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease transmitted by bacteria. It can produce very serious coughing that can make it hard to take a breath. Children are normally immunized against it with the DTaP vaccine for infants and young children and TDaP vaccine for those in middle school. If contracted, pertussis can often be treated with antibiotics.
