HAYDEN - Whooping cough has been confirmed in nine children who live in Kootenai County and range in age from 3 months to 15 years.

None of the children has been hospitalized. The cases of the highly contagious illness are so far confined to people within one social network. No cases outside this network have been reported.

"Most of the sick children have not been immunized," said Dave Hylsky, epidemiologist with the Panhandle Health District. "Pertussis is highly contagious in group settings - within families, in classrooms."

The pertussis vaccine protects people from getting the disease, but it doesn't work completely for all people. Still, it has been shown to prevent serious symptoms in people who have been vaccinated, the district announced.

Since January, 39 cases of pertussis have been reported in the five northern counties - 19 in Kootenai County, 19 in Benewah County and one in Bonner County. Last year, North Idaho had 74 cases of pertussis with no deaths. The five northern counties typically report a total of six or seven cases of whooping cough per year.

Pertussis is among the diseases childhood vaccinations help prevent, according to a press release. It's a highly contagious illness characterized by severe coughing spells that can cause vomiting and lack of breath. Untreated, pertussis can develop into pneumonia, seizures and encephalitis.

It's particularly dangerous for children younger than one year of age, the release said.

"Most pertussis deaths occur in unvaccinated children or in children too young to be vaccinated," the release said.

The DTaP immunization, which contains pertussis vaccine, is available at PHD for children younger than 6. A pertussis booster vaccination, Tdap, is available at PHD for anyone age 11 or older.

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