Whooping cough spreading across Chicago area
There’s been a significant rise in the number of cases of whooping cough in the Chicago area this year, public health administrators said today, urging people to use precautions to help stem the spread of the highly contagious disease.
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While Chicago has confirmed an increase in whooping cough cases this year compared to previous years, the biggest jump in numbers appears to be happening in suburban Cook and the collar counties. McHenry County, for example, averages about eight cases annually. This year, it’s already up to 143.
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The first symptoms usually appear about a week after someone is exposed. They can mimic the symptoms of a cold: runny nose, sneezing, a low fever and a mild cough. Whooping cough symptoms can progress, though, to severe coughing fits, particularly at night, and coughing attacks are sometimes followed by vomiting. The potentially fatal disease tends to be most serious in infants and people who have compromised immune systems. The last whooping cough death in Illinois was that of a 2-month-old in 2001.
On a side note, I had a runny nose and mild fever on Friday and Saturday that's moved into my chest and has been making me cough like a mo-fo all day. So if I stop posting, it's probably because I'm dead or something.