Whooping cough cases on the rise in Canada
CBC
Whooping cough cases are on the rise in Canada, with some provinces reporting sharp increases compared to pre-pandemic averages.
More than 11,670 cases have been reported in Quebec so far this year, a significant jump from the annual average of 562 cases between 2015 and 2019.
The majority of whooping cough patients are between the ages of 10 and 14, a spokesperson for Quebec's health ministry said in an email to The Canadian Press.
The last peak of whooping cough activity in the province was in 2019, when 1,269 cases were reported, the email said.
As of June, Ontario has seen 470 whooping cough cases, compared to the five-year average of 98, a provincial dashboard shows.
Toronto has reported 99 cases so far this year, while Ottawa has seen 76 — more than double the pre-pandemic annual averages recorded in those cities. On Aug. 16, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health said in a release they'd seen a rise in cases locally and urged parents to keep vaccines up to date for themselves and their children.
The figures come on the heels of a whooping cough outbreak declared last week in New Brunswick with 141 cases reported so far, exceeding the five-year average of 34 cases per year.
The highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease also known as pertussis is on the rise across Canada and can be very serious in young children, Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said last week.
Whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years, public health officials say.
"It would appear that we're currently in one of those cyclical increases," said Dr. Allison Chris, an associate medical officer of health at Toronto Public Health.
The illness marked by a persistent cough begins with cold-like symptoms and evolves over several weeks to include coughing spells that often end with a "whoop" sound when an infected person is catching their breath.
New Brunswick's acting chief medical officer of health says the province hadn't seen a whooping cough outbreak in more than 10 years.
"I guess you could say we were certainly overdue for an increase in cases," Dr. Yves Leger said in an interview Tuesday.
Leger said he expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off, given an increase in public awareness surrounding the provincial outbreak and the reporting that will likely come with it.
Four-time Olympian Ellie Black and Mi’kmaw ethnologist Roger Lewis are among the latest Nova Scotian appointees to the Order of Canada.
Christmas is often a time of gathering and community for church communities, but one church on the outskirts of Fredericton found itself a victim of theft this holiday season.
A beloved Winnipeg comedian who was killed in a house fire was a "gentle giant" who had wanted to be a showman since he was a boy, his aunt says.
As the Town of Outlook continues to add up the cost of a recent incident that prompted fears about the safety of its water supply, the chief administrative officer suggests enhanced security measures are needed.
The motto for members of the Order of Canada stood out to Michelle Good when she got a letter in September, informing her she had been selected for the highest civilian honour.
Get your confetti and noisemakers ready and settle in to ring in 2026 with two back-to-back New Year's Eve specials on CBC.
A person has died after being caught and buried in an avalanche near Tumbler Ridge in northern B.C., according to Avalanche Canada.
How well did you keep track of what happened on P.E.I. this year?
For those hoping to ring in the new year in style, there are a variety of events across Toronto.
Small bridges around Paulatuk, N.W.T., are giving harvesters a safer way to get to their camps, as climate change makes travelling on the land more dangerous.
A year-end poll from Nanos suggests Canadians will want to see action from the Liberal government on major economic files in the new year.
City of Calgary officials say they have identified the location of what they are calling a second “catastrophic” water main break in the northwest in less than two years, but they do not have a timeline as to when it might be fixed.