Lin Ting, deputy chief of the DOH Centers for Disease Control, noted that the patient is a one-month-old baby boy who displayed the symptoms of intermittent coughing and wheezing Feb. 27. He was reported as a suspected case of whooping cough when he was admitted to hospital March 5. His condition stabilized after treatment. Lin noted that the patient was not old enough to have been vaccinated and that the DOH suspected he was infected by his mother.

“The mother had a cough during the Chinese New Year holiday in early February, but the patient’s father and six-year-old brother had no similar symptoms,” Lin said.

He said whooping cough affects infants in their first year the most, adding that infants can suffer complications such as pneumonia, which can prove fatal.

Children are required to be given four shots of DPT — a three-in-one vaccine — to immunize against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus before they reach the age of 18 months, although the DOH still finds about two dozen whooping cough cases every year, Lin said. “Fortunately, none of these cases have been fatal,” he added. Considering the fact that immunity against whooping cough diminishes between five and 10 years after vaccination, the center has already purchased additional vaccine. “If everything goes well, first graders in elementary schools will be able to get the additional vaccines as early as September,” he added.

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