MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Health District has confirmed the existence of 12 cases of whooping cough — pertussis — in Grant County.

“All cases are within the Ephrata and Moses Lake community,” according to health district news release. “None of the cases have been hospitalized.”

Health district officials have notified all “close contacts” with those currently diagnosed, the news release added, and has started them on antibiotics “in an effort to control the spread of the disease.”

However, the health district was also emphatic in stating that antibiotics are not recommended for the general public.

According to the health district, whooping cough is a highly contagious disease spread through the air, using by coughing or sneezing, or spending too much time close to someone who has the disease.

While whooping cough symptoms resemble a cold at the beginning, after a week or two they progress to intense coughing fits sometimes followed by vomiting, exhaustion, and difficulty breathing.

Those most at risk of whooping cough are infants, pregnant women, and people with weak or compromised immune systems, and the best way of fending off the disease is to be properly vaccinated. Children should be vaccinated, and adults should receive the vaccine at least once in their adult lives, the district said.

“The vaccine reduces the chance that a person will become sick with pertussis. Getting pertussis does not prevent one from getting it again in the future,” the district said.