New Dutch whooping cough cases still high, possible decline among young children

An estimated 1,800 new reports of whooping cough infections were recorded in the Netherlands during the first two weeks of April, according to Dutch public health institute RIVM. The figures, released on Wednesday, raised the total for the year up to 5,305, an exceedingly high number compared to previous years. There were some signs that cases may be declining among young children, who can be most severely affected by an infection.

The new figures from the RIVM include infected people who may have contracted the bacterial infection earlier. It also included information about some individuals who were diagnosed earlier, but there was a delay forwarding the information on to the RIVM.

About 50 reports from the latest data set concerned babies. That brought the total for the year up to 276, about half of whom required hospitalization. The disease is especially dangerous for young children. At least four babies passed away as a result of the disease at the start of the year, the Dutch public health institute announced earlier. The RIVM has expressed serious concern about the declining vaccination rates in the country.

The total number of new cases of whooping cough among the youngest children in the Netherlands did fall again after hitting the highest peak in years. Figures also provided on Wednesday by health research center Nivel showed that general practitioners saw fewer patients up to four years of age with whooping cough than in the weeks before.

The research center did note that the sample size was smaller than usual last week as one organization that normally collects data from several family physician offices was unable to do so on this occasion. That said, there were 15 cases reported per 100,000 children in the youngest age group. This is still generally higher than in the previous few years.

The number of infections rose sharply starting in the last week of February, continuing towards a peak reached the week of March 25. During that seven-day period, Nivel learned of 35 cases per 100,000 children under the age of four. The total number of new cases fell to 31 the week after, which then led to the most recent figure of 15 cases per capita observed from April 8-14.

The number of cases rose slightly for children from 5 to 14 years of age. That total ticked up from 16 to 17 children per 100,000 who were diagnosed with whooping cough in the last few weeks.

Babies can be protected against whooping cough before they are born. Expectant mothers can get vaccinated from the 22nd week of pregnancy to ensure that their children receive the necessary antibodies. A wider margin of Dutch newborn babies are vaccinated before they reach their first birthday.