Less than a month after the start of school, the children’s hospitals in Bucharest are stormed, and in the emergency reception units the waiting times can even exceed three hours. The reason is neither viruses nor flu, but whooping cough, also known as “100-day cough”. Even worse is the fact that this disease, fatal in certain cases, can be prevented by vaccination.
Whooping cough can be prevented by vaccination. Source: archive
At least 10 children arrive with convulsive cough every day in each emergency reception unit for children in the Capital. Many of them are hospitalized immediately. “I can’t breathe out, because this act of coughing is abnormally controlled by the brain, it’s something you can’t control. In the last month, we had 5 patients who needed life support, i.e. they had to be intubated and mechanically ventilated because otherwise they would die”. said Dr. Mihai Craiu, primary pediatric physician at the “Alessandrescu-Rusescu” National Institute for Mother and Child Health (INSMC). “Whooping cough is a special respiratory disease caused by a bacterium called bordetella pertussis. Unlike a common cold, which lasts 7-10 days, in this disease the coughing episodes can last up to 100 days”said Dr. Mihai Craiu. Moreover, according to infectious disease doctors, in the case of small children, infants to be exact, hospitalization is mandatory because the disease, not properly treated, can even lead to death. So far, in Romania, two children have already died.
Doctor: “The child is coughing until he almost passes out”
The doctors of the Gomoiu hospital in the capital are also facing a wave of illnesses, and the large number of patients makes it difficult to work in the emergency unit. This is the reason why the waiting time until cases are taken over can exceed 3 hours. Doctors estimate, however, that in the coming weeks the waiting period could double. “Cough is the main symptom. The children are coughing, apneic and end up in the emergency room because the parents are scared”, said Diana Zaharia, doctor at the Gomoiu hospital.
The disease begins with symptoms similar to a common cold, with moderate fever, rhinorrhea and dry cough day and night. Severe bouts of whooping cough follow, with an intense respiratory noise, and the patients feel as if they are suffocating. These are often accompanied by vomiting, and in the last phase of the disease, the coughing fits become less frequent, but continue to persist. “It is easy to recognize because the cough, as the main symptom, is atypical, virulent, exhausting. You cough until you almost pass out in certain situations. Young children may have apnea, may experience vomiting due to exertion. Adults can have urinary incontinence, even fractured ribs, all from the exertion of coughing.” epidemiologist Emilian Popovici also explains.
Doctors recommend that parents, at the first signs of illness, take their children to the family doctor first. However, most of them, taken by surprise by the aggressiveness of the disease, do not wait any longer and present themselves at the on-call rooms of hospitals that are overcrowded.
Babies up to two months, the greatest risk of illness and death
How did we end up in such a situation, to be “struck” by such serious diseases? “PI understand that Romanians no longer immunize their children”epidemiologist Mihai Negrea also explains the situation in Romania. “Pregnant women should vaccinated to protect themselves, but especially to protect their newborn children. Let me explain: the DTP vaccine, because this is the serum that immunizes you against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, is given to babies from the age of two months. If the mothers have not been vaccinated before, the children have no immunity against diseases at all until this age. Basically, for two months, their body is very vulnerable. These kids don’t stand a chance if they come into contact with the virus. They get sick and there’s nothing you can do. Many die of suffocation from coughing.” the doctor also specified. Children, he continues, must be immunized at two months, at four months, at 11 months, at 5 years and at 14 years. After that, once every 10 years, same as adults. “It is the mandatory vaccination schedule. This is the only way we will keep diseases and epidemics under control”. The DTP vaccine provides 98% protection against pertussis infection. Today, the DTP vaccine is estimated to save about 13 million people a year from death.
The National Institute of Public Health made a series of recommendations for the population, namely:
- Presentation to the doctor at the appearance of suggestive symptoms: bouts of intense and prolonged coughing, vomiting after coughing bouts, difficulty in breathing in infants, noisy breathing;
- Timely vaccination of infants and recovery of restorations; Vaccination of the pregnant woman, in order to ensure the protection of the young infant, but also of the mother; Adult vaccination, with a booster every 10 years.
Whooping cough, the worst epidemic in the last 25 years in Europe
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of cases of whooping cough has increased fivefold this year compared to last year. The phenomenon is also valid in Europe. For example, French health authorities say it is the worst whooping cough epidemic in 25 years. Thus, the public health service in France emphasizes the very strong circulation of the virus, which has intensified in recent months. Evidence: About 35,000 confirmed cases. This virus has caused the death of 22 children in France, including 20 infants.
According to an ECDC report published at the beginning of the year, in 2023 there were almost 60,000 cases of whooping cough in European countries, which is ten times more cases than in 2021 and 2022. In England, according to the Health Safety Agency, during January – August 2024, more than 13,000 cases of whooping cough and the death of ten infants were recorded.
