MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota is seeing the highest number of whooping cough cases in eight years. 

The state health department reports more than a thousand cases of the respiratory infection so far this year. Last year, there were only 61 cases. 

Of the more than 1,019 cases of whooping cough this year, the latest numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health show the vast majority — about 37% — are in Hennepin County.

Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota has fewer than ten reported cases. This week the university sent a message to students with how to protect themselves.

“Every few years, I’d say six to eight years, we do see an uptick in the whooping cough rates,” said Dr. Liz Placzek, a pediatrician and medical director at Children’s Minnesota’s West St. Paul clinic. “And this happens to be that year.”

She said the illness can begin like a cold, but the difference is that whooping cough is a cough that is going to persist, and going to worsen.

The only way whooping cough is treated is with antibiotics. If it goes untreated, it can cause pneumonia, infections, and even death.

While the whooping cough vaccine is given during childhood, Placzek says adults should be getting a booster every ten years. 

“We see it really in people who are a little bit removed from their last dose of that vaccine that their immunity probably waned a little bit and so they’re more succeptable to getting that infection,” said Placzek. 

While the majority of cases have been in vaccinated individuals, Victor Cruz, a senior rpidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, says the vaccine can still lower symptom length and severity.

“The rates of hospitalization in Minnesota are very very low,” Cruz said. “Due to mainly vaccination and also good treatment and identification of cases by health care providers.”

Placzek said being proactive is key to lowering infection numbers.

“Cover your cough, wear your mask, know good hand hygiene,” she said. 

She also said to reach out to your doctor or your child’s pediatrician if you have questions about their vaccination status.