The massive whooping cough outbreak sweeping Scotland is likely to get worse over the coming months, an expert has warned. Dr Sam Ghebrehewet, head of immunisation and vaccination at Public Health Scotland (PHS), said infections would probably not peak until the autumn. It comes days after PHS revealed that a total of 2,232 laboratory-confirmed cases of pertussis - better known as whooping cough - had been detected in Scotland up to May 13.
That compares to just 73 in the whole of 2023, and far exceeds the numbers reported in the last significant outbreak in 2012 and 2013, when 3,084 cases were detected over a two-year period. In England, five young infants - all under three months old - died as a result of whooping cough between January and March this year. READ MORE: Explainer: What is whooping cough? The symptoms, the vaccine, and trends in cases Huge surge in whooping cough cases as Scotland in grip of worse outbreak in years What's gone wrong in NHS Highland's vaccination programme? There have been no deaths to date in Scotland, but expectant mothers have been urged come forward for vaccination if they have not already had the jag during pregnancy.
Speaking to the BBC's Sunday Show about the outbreak, Dr Ghebrehewet said: "It is likely to get worse. "The cycles we have seen over the last 10 years is usually that it starts in the first [quarter of] the calendar year - January, February, March. "It goes higher and higher and it doesn't peak until the third quarter, so I th.