A huge outbreak of whooping cough is mainly affecting children aged 10 to 14 in Scotland . Public health chiefs have urged pregnant women and parents with young children to ensure their vaccinations are up to date amid fears that the highly contagious bacterial infection will continue circulating at high levels until the autumn. It comes as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed that a further three babies in England have died as a result of whooping cough, taking the total so far this year to eight.
READ MORE: Worst whooping cough outbreak in over a decade 'won't peak until autumn' Uptake of pertussis vaccine in pregnancy less than 75 per cent in some areas EXPLAINER: Whooping cough - symptoms, history, who is most at risk? There have been no recorded deaths from the disease in Scotland since 2015, but the current outbreak is the worst for more than a decade and some experts have warned that it is on track to be the most severe in 40 years. Public Health Scotland (PHS) has now published its first quarterly report for 2024 on vaccine-preventable diseases. This reveals that there were 1,084 laboratory-confirmed cases in Scotland between January and March, compared to just 73 in the whole of 2023.
Separate provisional data indicate that there have been 3,237 cases in total up to June 3. Cases of whooping cough have spiked dramatically in 2024 (Image: PHS) The quarterly data shows that children aged 10 to 14 in Scotland had the highest incidence rate for the infection, .
