90% of people susceptible to whooping cough, will catch it if they are exposed.
Madaline Wood and her mother, Ashley were busy picking out school supplies, getting Madaline ready for first grade.
Wood says while her daughters are generally healthy she did ask their Physician about the increase in whooping cough cases.
"He didn't seem worried because she had a whooping cough vaccine this past year," said Ashley Wood, "he said that because it's so up to date that she should be okay.
Being up to date on vaccines is exactly what Dr. Michael Pichichero, Director of Rochester General Hospital Research Institute says both children and adults need to be.
Whooping cough immunity go goes away over time and what we're seeing here is a combination of under vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals," said Dr. Pichichero.
He says whooping cough come in 3 year cycles and we're currently in one of those cycles that he predicts will last at least through October.
"As we reconvene schools in september and individuals start to go indoors again as the weather cools I am quite concerned we're going to see even more whooping cough," said Dr. Pichichero.
The whooping cough vaccine only lasts 4 to 5 years. Dr. Pichichero recommends adults also get the vaccine especially if they are around infants.
