If you have been in the Hudson Valley for even as little as a few weeks, you probably heard that there are cases of measles in the area, right? Rockland County is unable to catch a break, because not only are they dealing with measles outbreaks, they now are also dealing with confirmed cases of whooping cough.

Currently, there are seven confirmed cases with an additional five cases under investigation. According to the Center for Disease Control website, whooping cough or Pertussis is:

a highly contagious respiratory disease. It is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.

Pertussis is known for uncontrollable, violent coughing which often makes it hard to breathe. After cough fits, someone with pertussis often needs to take deep breaths, which result in a “whooping” sound. Pertussis can affect people of all ages, but can be very serious, even deadly, for babies less than a year old.

Should this be cause for concern? If you have been vaccinated, you are probably going to be ok. Is the number of cases higher than normal or something to worry about? Not if you are just looking at the whooping cough cases, however there are 96 confirmed cases of measles in Rockland County. Maybe the two can some how be related?

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