There were more alerts for whooping cough cases in the past two weeks than there were all last year, startling new figures show, as a map reveals the country's hotspot. The deadly Victorian-era illness known as the "100-day cough" is currently sweeping its way through the country with cases at their highest in 40 years . Now the latest numbers from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reveal there were more than 2,000 notifications of possible cases in the two weeks up to May 12 - compared with 1,728 for the entire of 2023.
There have already been 11,000 suspected cases so far this year - around six times more than last year. The figures, which have now been mapped out to show the UK hotspots, show there were 921 in the seven days up to May 12, and 1,098 the week before. Tragically, five babies died in the first three months of this year after catching whooping cough.
The disease is a bacterial infection of the lungs which causes a specific kind of cough. It's known to spread extremely easily and most commonly affects babies and young children. Figures have also revealed the hotspot for cases, with Bristol revealed to have more cases than anywhere else in England and Wales with 102 in the last two weeks.
This was followed by Cardiff (43) and Nottingham (40). Nottingham has seen the most suspected cases all year with 251, followed by Bristol (226) and Cardiff (205). While these notifications are of suspected cases that lab tests have not yet confirmed, they provide an early w.
