Zumbrota-Mazeppa schools dealing with whooping cough outbreak

Nov. 19--ZUMBROTA -- State and regional health officials conducted a conference call Wednesday morning to coordinate a response to a whooping cough outbreak in the Zumbrota-Mazeppa School District.

Vicky Iocco, Goodhue County's Immunizations Disease Prevention and Control Coordinator, said there are currently 19 confirmed cases in the school district's high school and middle school buildings, though about another 60 missed class Wednesday with other ailments.

Z-M Superintendent Tony Simons and Jeff Nolte, the high school principal, were both in meetings all afternoon and not available for comment.

The Minnesota Department of Health is currently coordinating the response in conjunction with Goodhue and Wabasha counties and local hospitals, Iocco said. That makes it one of the largest outbreaks in southeastern Minnesota so far this year, though Olmsted County has also reported 20 such cases.

Whooping cough, which is also known as pertussis, is a disease that infects the lungs, causing a severe cough that typically lasts for four to six weeks. It's considered highly contagious, and potentially deadly for infants, as the bacteria is spread with each cough.

Typically, the ailment begins similar to the common cold. However, the cough eventually worsens after one to two weeks before occurring in sudden, uncontrollable bursts. Children may make high-pitched whooping sounds while gasping for breath after coughing, which popularized the name.

The disease can be spread for the first three weeks of the cough if not treated by antibiotics. It's still considered contagious until the victim has been on antibiotics for five days, which is how long the Minnesota Department of Health recommends holding students out of school after they've fallen ill.

Minnesota health officials have recorded 876 cases of whooping cough this year as of Nov. 6, which is the most recent data available. Not surprisingly, Hennepin County reported the most with 185.

That number is roughly in line with the state's annual average since the 1950s, though there was a 2012 outbreak when about 4,000 cases were reported. The Department of Health says that sort of spike had not previously been reported since 1938, a few years before a pertussis vaccine was licensed.

There are currently two vaccines available for pertussis, called DTaP and Tdap. They are given in combination with tetanus and diphtheria shots, depending on the subject's age. Such shots are considered the best way to prevent whooping cough, though those who are vaccinated can still contract a milder form of the disease, the health department says.

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