Seven cases of pertussis at Chapel Hill Elementary School

CHAPEL HILL

Six students and one staff member were sent home from Glenwood Elementary School with pertussis.

The school informed all parents of the outbreak. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school spokesperson Jeff Nash said the district has taken extra precautions to inform parents whose children have been in close contact with students or sick staff.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, spreads by coughing or sneezing and can remain dormant for up to three weeks before the onset of symptoms.

In the beginning, whooping cough looks like a normal cold, but it turns into a cough characterized by a "whooping cough" when the patient inhales. The cough can become violent and fast enough to cause vomiting and exhaustion. According to the Center for Disease Control, the disease can be particularly dangerous for infants.

Pertussis is a preventable disease. For children 7 years old and younger, pertussis vaccine is included in the DTaP vaccine, which inoculates children against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. For older children and adults, the Tdap vaccine protects against all three diseases.

The CDC "recommends pertussis vaccination for all babies and children, preadolescents and adolescents and pregnant women. Adults who have never received a dose of Tdap should also be vaccinated against whooping cough. "

Nash said that whooping cough would appear in the district every few years. Last year, The Herald Sun reported that pertussis was affecting a group of high school students at Chapel Hill High and East Chapel Hill High.