Louisiana is facing a record-breaking surge of whooping cough cases and is on track to surpass the highest number of reported cases in decades, state health officials said Wednesday.

The state has data on whooping cough, also known as pertussis, going back to the 1990s, said Teresa Sokol, state epidemiologist at the Department of Health. Previously, the highest case count was 214 cases in 2013.

“Our current trajectory with whooping cough cases this year means that we are unfortunately on track to surpass that number of cases, probably before the end of this year,” Sokol said.

During a press conference that incoming LDH Secretary Bruce Greenstein said was about transparency and protecting the public’s health, officials shared updates on both the measles and whooping cough outbreaks. While the state has successfully contained measles, whooping cough cases continue to rise, posing a significant risk to infants too young to be fully vaccinated.

Whooping cough cases rise

As of Wednesday, the state reported 170 whooping cough cases in 2025, surpassing the total of 153 cases recorded in all of last year. Since September 2024, the outbreak has led to 42 hospitalizations, with nearly 70% involving infants under one year old. Two infants have died, marking the first fatalities in Louisiana since 2018.

Newborns are especially vulnerable to whooping cough because they have immature immune systems, said Dr. Margot Anderson, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Tulane University. In older kids, the virus is usually an “annoyance,” but its lengthy contagious period makes it easy to spread.

“We used to call it the 100-day cough,” said Anderson. “They’re contagious for at least three weeks of coughing.”

Infants get their first pertussis vaccine at 2 months. To protect them, Anderson recommended what’s known as “cocooning” – keeping infants away from others until they get their first shot. She also recommended a booster shot during pregnancy to give the baby antibodies.

Five of the 42 hospitalized pertussis patients were vaccinated. Six had an unknown vaccination rate, and the remaining 31 were undervaccinated or unvaccinated.

One in three babies under the age of one who get whooping cough will be hospitalized, said Sokol.

“The younger the baby is, the more likely they’re going to have a severe illness,” she said.

Anyone who is going to be around the infant in early days, such as grandparents or siblings, should be up to date on the pertussis vaccine, which is given as part of the DTaP vaccine for children and the Tdap vaccine for adolescents and adults. Those vaccinecs also protect against diphtheria and tetanus.

It’s likely that whooping cough is going undetected in the state due to less frequent testing, said Sokol. Though Louisiana’s overall case rate for pertussis is lower than the national average, the rate of severe cases requiring hospitalization is significantly higher, at 15% compared to a national average of 5%.

Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham said Louisiana residents should consult health care providers if there are any concerns about a child’s health. He advised parents to seek medical attention if a child has symptoms like high fever, not eating, not drinking, or decreased urinary output.

“I would recommend talking to your health care provider if you have questions about your immunity to these diseases, because there are tests we can do to check your immunity,” Abraham said.

For those who do not have a regular health provider, Abraham recommended visiting a parish health unit.

Measles cases closed

On May 9, Louisiana closed the investigation that stemmed from a travel-related measles case in the New Orleans area in mid-April. One additional case was found through contact tracing, but that case was already past the incubation period when it was identified. According to Dr. Pete Croughan, 75 people were exposed, about half of whom were health care workers.

Two high-risk contacts received post-exposure drugs that are typically given to people who are unvaccinated, “which almost certainly prevented additional cases,” Croughan said.

These cases coincide with a national uptick, with over 1,000 confirmed measles cases across 31 states by early May, the highest annual total since 2019.

Approximately 96% of these cases have occurred in unvaccinated or under-vaccinated individuals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some parents have asked about giving their children an early measles vaccine before the typical timeline of one year. Anderson advised that since there is no evidence of active spread of measles within the state, early vaccination is generally not necessary, except in cases where a child may travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks.

Recent state policy changes have reduced proactive vaccine promotion, ending mass vaccination events like flu shot fairs and instructing public health employees to direct residents to their health care providers rather than actively recommending vaccines.

Abraham said he would not consider holding vaccine events for pertussis, but said the department was promoting the vaccine on its website, urging residents to speak with their physicians.

Access is a problem Anderson often sees in hospitalized patients with vaccine-preventable diseases.

“We were so interested in this problem of vaccine refusers or skeptics, but oftentimes it’s that they live in Tickfaw, or somewhere really rural, and don’t have transportation,” she said.