Whooping cough 'endemic' among school children

Nearly 40% of school age children in the UK who visit their doctor with a persistent cough have evidence of whooping cough infection, even though they have been fully immunised, a study has claimed.

Researchers from the University of Oxford described the results as "startling" and said that it showed that whooping cough - Bordtella pertussis - is endemic among young children in the UK.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, identified 172 children aged 5-16 who visited their family doctor with a cough lasting 14 days or more. Details on the duration and severity of cough were recorded and immunisation records were checked. Blood samples were taken to test for pertussis infection and parents and children also completed a cough diary.

Researchers found that 37.2% of children had evidence of a recent pertussis infection - of those children 85.9% had been full immunised.

Children with pertussis were more likely that others to have whooping, vomiting and sputum production. They were also more likely to still be coughing two months after the start of their illness, continue to have more than five coughing episodes per day, and cause sleep disturbance for their parents.

Neither infection nor immunisation results in lifelong immunity from whooping cough. However, researchers said that GPs in the UK seldom diagnose or even consider whooping cough in older children, because it is perceived as a disease of very young children who have not been immunised and who have classic features such as whoop.

The authors of the report have urged GPs to be alert to a potential diagnosis of pertussis in any child who presents with a persistent cough. They said that a clear diagnosis would allow GPs to give parents an indication of the likely length of cough and prevent them from prescribing unnecessary drugs for asthma or referring children for further investigations.

(KMcA/GB)