21-05-2025
Whooping cough cases double this year compared to 2024. Here's what to know
As schools across the country release their students and the summer season begins, one respiratory illness shows no sign of slowing down.
Whooping cough, or Bordetella pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial infection that may begin similar to the common cold, but can drag on for weeks or months.
From 2023 to 2024, cases of whooping cough increased more than 600%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the highest case numbers since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data published so far this year shows the same trend, with 2025 slated to outpace the previous years.
Here's what you need to know.
2025 cases double
There were 259 new cases of whooping cough reported across 22 states during the week ending May 10, according to the National Notifiable Diseases: Infectious Weekly Tables published by the CDC.
Two states outpaced the others, with Oklahoma reporting 60 new cases and Florida reporting 49 new cases.
California and Arizona also had elevated case numbers, with both reporting 21 new cases, while Ohio stood out in the Midwest, reporting 20 new whooping cough cases, according to the data.
Cases are reported by local, state and territorial health departments, and may not be exhaustive if someone doesn't seek medical treatment and receive a diagnosis, the CDC notes.
The latest numbers, week 19 of the year, bring the cumulative total number of cases in 2025 to 10,771, nearly double the number from 2024.
The same time period — Jan. 1 to May 10, 2024 — counted 5,707 cases, according to the CDC.
The weekly table reports do not include the age of those infected.
The bacteria that causes whooping cough spreads person-to-person through the air, specifically through coughs and sneezes, the CDC says. Infected people can spread the bacteria for weeks after they start coughing, and many with mild symptoms can spread the infection without ever knowing they have whooping cough.
'Many babies who get whooping cough are infected by older siblings, parents or caregivers who don't know they have it,' the CDC says.
What's to blame for case spike?
Vaccination against whooping cough is part of the regular vaccine regimen for children, and vaccines are available for teens, pregnant women and adults who were never vaccinated.
However, a report published at the end of 2024 found that the rise in cases may stem from misinformation and lack of information about the whooping cough vaccine, including many parents who may not know pertussis and whooping cough are the same thing.
A survey found 30% of American adults were unsure whether a vaccine existed, despite the shot becoming available for the first time in the 1940s, McClatchy News previously reported.
Other vaccine-preventable illnesses, from measles to polio, could make significant comebacks with changes to American vaccine policy, KFF Health News and NPR reported.
