MODESTO BEE
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

By KEN CARLSON
BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: August 11, 2005, 05:48:30 AM PDT

Whooping cough, an illness that once killed thousands of children in the United States each year, is on the rise again in the San Joaquin Valley, officials said.
Stanislaus County's Health Services Agency has recorded 28 cases in the county this year, compared with 13 cases in all of 2004.

Children's Hospital Central California in Madera has treated just more than 100 children for the illness, almost four times the number of cases reported there last year. The hospital admits children from counties throughout the valley, including Fresno, which already has had 220 cases of whooping cough this year.

San Joaquin County has not experienced an increase in cases, a health official said. Information was not available for Merced County.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is most common in infants and young children, and can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia and seizures.

Cases began showing up in Stanislaus County in May. Since then whooping cough has stricken not only young children and adolescents, but also adults up to age 62, said David Jones, a spokesman for the county health agency.

The outbreak prompted the agency to send an alert to local physicians and school nurses.

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