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Vaccination fatigue: whooping cough figures explode

Pertussis, whooping cough, 100-day cough: this serious illness goes by many names in Austria.

(Bild: New Africa/stock.adobe.com)

The number of whooping cough cases has exploded this year due to a lack of vaccinations. There were 2791 infections in the entire previous year, now 9972 cases have been reported up to August 20 alone. An infection can be life-threatening, especially for infants.

On Wednesday, the Vienna Medical Association reminded people to get vaccinated, ideally now for first-graders starting school and every ten years for adults, and every five years for those over 60.

According to the Epidemiological Reporting System (EMS), 964 cases of whooping cough had been confirmed in Vienna by August 20. This means that around 15 times as many cases have already been registered in the current year as in the whole of 2023, the Vienna Medical Association calculated in a press release.

Pertussis, whooping cough, 100-day cough: this serious illness goes by many names in Austria.

(Bild: New Africa/stock.adobe.com)

Tyrol clearly in the lead
However, the frontrunner is not Vienna as the most populous federal state, but Tyrol with 2460 cases since the beginning of the year. It is followed by Upper Austria with 1933, Styria with 1585, Lower Austria with 1280 and Salzburg with 1069 cases. So far this year, there have been fewer infections than in Vienna in Vorarlberg (316), Burgenland (201) and Carinthia (164).

Medical Association: "Close vaccination gaps quickly"
"The large vaccination gaps are responsible for the alarming increase in Vienna and throughout Austria and must be closed quickly. Whooping cough is a serious disease that can be life-threatening for infants," warns Johannes Steinhart, Head of the Austrian Medical Association. "We are therefore once again calling for the four-vaccine booster against tetanus, diphtheria, polio and whooping cough to finally be offered free of charge." Infants receive the three-part basic immunization against whooping cough as part of a six-part vaccination free of charge, but the boosters should not be forgotten either.

Vienna surgery: no cases for 14 years, already seven this year
"Whooping cough causes enormous suffering and is extremely dangerous for our youngest children," emphasized Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, First Vice President of the Vienna Medical Association. The disease, commonly known as the 100-day cough, also causes spasmodic coughing fits in adults, which can lead to vomiting and last for a long time. "I have already registered seven confirmed cases in my practice since the beginning of the year, and not a single one in the past 14 years. Colleagues also paint a similar picture," reported the GP.

GP and Vienna Medical Association Vice President Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied reports an enormous increase in the number of pertussis cases.

(Bild: klemens groh)

Large gaps in infants
More than eight percent of two to four-year-olds had not yet received a single vaccination against whooping cough in 2023. They are therefore also completely unvaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, Haemophilus influenzae B and hepatitis B, which are also included in the six-way vaccine. A further ten percent of this age group received the first partial vaccination, but not all subsequent vaccinations required for the three-part basic immunization.