Whooping cough cases are surging in Louisiana, a trend that “could result in a record high for 2025 — more than has been seen annually in the state for at least 35 years,” according to a news release Friday from the Louisiana Department of Health. 

LDH said it has identified 164 cases in just the first four months of the year, while there were 153 cases during all of 2024. 

“Two deaths have occurred among young infants hospitalized with whooping cough,” LDH said. “These were the first whooping cough deaths reported in Louisiana since 2018.”

One of those deaths occurred in the latter half of 2024, and one occurred in the first two months of 2025, a spokesperson for the health department said.

Louisiana’s increase in cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, mirrors national trends, according to the health department. The spread of the illness is also leading to an increase in reported hospitalizations and deaths. 

“Since September 2024, 40 people in Louisiana have been hospitalized with whooping cough,” LDH said. “Seventy percent of those hospitalizations have occurred among babies younger than 1 year old.”

Whooping cough is a respiratory illness that’s very contagious. It’s caused by bacteria that spreads from person to person in the air through coughing, sneezing and close contact. 

Early symptoms may look the like common cold and include a runny or stuffy nose, low-grade fever and mild cough, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. A week or two after symptoms begin, coughing fits can start. Coughing fits can last as little as one week and as long as 10 weeks.

In babies, early symptoms may include life-threatening pauses in breathing, and whooping cough may appear like the common cold for the entire illness, according to the CDC.

Pertussis can spread from person to person once symptoms start and “for at least 2 weeks after coughing begins,” according to the CDC.

“Infants under the age of 1 year are most affected by whooping cough, showing the highest reported rates of infection and the greatest likelihood of severe complications and death,” according to the Louisiana Department of Health. “The bacteria that cause whooping cough are often unknowingly spread to infants by close family or caregivers.”

LDH has offered some tips on how to handle whooping cough:

This is a developing story.