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A pharmacist administers a dose of a tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine to a patient at a CVS Pharmacy on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Miami, Florida. AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell<\/p>\nA baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough, the Mississippi State Department of Health announced on Monday, marking the state\u2019s first whooping cough death in 13 years. The infant was less than two months old and was not old enough to receive the pertussis vaccine, the agency said.<\/p>\n
Mississippi has seen 115 pertussis cases from Jan. 1, 2025, to Sept. 29. Through all of 2024, the state had only detected 49 whooping cough cases, MSDH reported. Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said that Mississippi\u2019s last whooping cough deaths were in 2008 and 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do believe that declining vaccination rates are impacting this,\u201d he told reporters on Sept. 29. \u201cMississippi, as you know, scores very high with our rate of vaccination for our infants and school-aged children, but we don\u2019t score nearly as well with adults. And so, our concern is that adult Mississippians are not maintaining the pertussis immunity, which puts our babies at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory infection with symptoms like extreme, uncontrollable coughing that causes shortness of breath, he said. It usually starts with a runny nose and congestion that manifests into a violent, uncontrollable cough that often sounds like a \u201cwhoop,\u201d the state health officer explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pertussis could linger anywhere between two to eight weeks in a person if left untreated, Edney said. In adults, pertussis is typically mild, and he said people usually think they have a common cold. People should quarantine for anywhere between six to 21 days if they have pertussis, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat cough can hang around for a very long time, and the longer they have it untreated, the more dangerous,\u201d Edney warned.<\/p>\n
Antibiotics can treat pertussis and slow the spread of the disease to others, he said. Coughing can be particularly dangerous for infants as it can cause breathing complications, he reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times, you know, babies don\u2019t cough; they just stop breathing,\u201d the state health officer said.<\/p>\n
A pharmacist administers a dose of a tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine to a patient at a CVS Pharmacy on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Miami, Florida. AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell<\/p>\n