Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Yesterday, September 23, 2024, we were notified of a positive case of whooping cough at Los Alamos High School. The high school nurse has completed all of the contact tracing for this case and all close contacts and their parents have been notified. If you were not notified, your child was not considered a close contact. Today, we learned of two additional students who are symptomatic and waiting for test results to confirm or rule out a whooping cough case. We are proactively contacting tracing with these students and will make appropriate notifications.
Following the identification of a case of whooping cough (pertussis) at the high school, we would like below to highlight and elaborate on some of the information we provided to the school community yesterday. This is not meant to substitute for information from the Department of Health or your healthcare provider. Please contact your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns.
Our goal as a community is to keep the number of people infected to a minimum. We also want to prevent infections among those most at risk of severe complications from whooping cough.
With these aims in mind, we would like to assure you that we are implementing with the help of the New Mexico Department of Health the standard protocols for dealing with a case of pertussis.
It is also important to note that we are acting swiftly on this matter since pertussis is a highly contagious disease, more contagious, for example, than diphtheria, mumps, rubella (German measles), or polio. Pertussis is spread by respiratory droplets and, on average, a person with pertussis infects 12-17 other people. Symptoms usually begin 7-10 days after exposure. Hand washing, disinfecting surfaces that may be exposed, and air filtration can reduce the risk of disease spread.
As we mentioned yesterday:
Pertussis usually starts like a common cold (such as sneezing, runny nose, etc.) followed by a cough that gets worse over one to two weeks. People with whooping cough may have coughing spells in which they can’t catch their breath between coughs. Some may loudly gasp (“whoop”) and vomit or feel like they’re choking. The cough may linger for up to 8 weeks, and in some cases, mostly in adults, a prolonged cough may be the only symptom. The early phase of whooping cough may be accompanied by a low-grade fever.
We encourage the community to be aware of these symptoms so they can seek medical care if needed for themselves or their loved ones. You should also be aware that CDC advises that one see a healthcare provider if you or your child are coughing violently and that one seek immediate medical care for breathing difficulties.
Those infected, upon the advice of a healthcare provider, are treated with antibiotics. Those exposed to the infection may also be given antibiotics. In addition, household contacts and high-risk individuals who have been exposed to pertussis are given a course of antibiotics. Treatment with antibiotics reduces the transmission of illness.
There are vaccines against pertussis, which are safe and effective. However, their immunity wanes over time. Thus, it is especially important that adults over 65 who have not had a vaccine against pertussis in the last ten years, adults who have never been vaccinated, and pregnant women discuss with their health care provider if they need a vaccine or a booster. Of course, it is now also very important that our children get immunized against pertussis on schedule. Even with waning immunity, people who are vaccinated have a lower risk of severe infection than if they had not been vaccinated.
Trying to prevent the spread of pertussis in Los Alamos is also essential because pertussis can cause severe complications and sometimes death in infants under 1 year of age. In fact, about 50% of infants who get pertussis will require hospitalization. Pertussis can also cause severe complications for people, for example, who are immunocompromised or suffer from moderate to severe medically treated asthma. These facts make it especially important for caregivers and those who spend time with infants and other high-risk individuals to speak with their healthcare provider expeditiously about the need for a pertussis vaccine or booster. Grandparents with waning immunity, for example, may be infected with pertussis, not know it, and unknowingly spread the infection to their infant grandchildren.
For further information on whooping cough, we encourage you to review CDC links to a fact sheet on pertussis and to CDC’s recommendations for vaccination against pertussis:
https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/hcp/vaccine-recommendations/index.html
We will, of course, update you on key developments within the LAPS related to this matter.
The LAPS would like to thank Rachel Light, Dr. Elena McAtee, and Richard Skolnik for their assistance in preparing this note.