Why you need a whooping cough vaccine

How to protect yourself and those around you—especially infants—from this highly contagious disease Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, was close to eradication in the 1970s, thanks to the whooping cough vaccine. But in the past few years, we’ve seen several worrisome outbreaks of the bacterial illness, which can bring uncontrollable coughing fits so severe that they may cause vomiting, obstruct breathing, and even crack ribs. The illness, which is easily spread through a cough or sneeze, can even be deadly for some people, especially infants—who don’t receive their first whooping cough vaccination until they are two months old. Here’s what you need to know about how to protect yourself and those around you from whooping cough. Why Whooping Cough Has Returned In the mid-1970s the number of cases in the United States fell to a low of 1,010 per year. But it has been on the rise in recent years: More than 18,000 cases of...