Though highly contagious, whooping cough is considered more of a nagging illness than a serious threat to school-age children. It can be much more dangerous to infants who have not yet been fully inoculated and to the elderly.
The deeper concern with the high number of cases in Hustonville is that one of the infected students will carry the disease home and spread it to a young sibling or grandparent, said Principal Marilyn Hafley.
“It’s more frustrating than scary with the students,” Hafley said. “If they get it here and then go home and there’s an infant or a grandmother there, that’s what’s scary.”
The first case at the school was diagnosed in mid-December, and the number has steadily increased through the holiday break and the several snow days that followed. Officials are not sure if they’ve curtailed the spread yet, despite efforts to provide booster vaccinations and get students checked out and treated.
Whooping cough can be spread by a direct cough from an infected person or by being within three feet of the person for an hour or more, Stone said. A school setting provides a situation where the disease can spread, and school officials have gone to great lengths to try to track down all families whose children likely have been exposed.
Last week, notification was sent out to all families of fifth-graders telling parents they should have their children checked out by a physician. A similar letter to fourth-grade parents was sent out Thursday, Hafley said.
Children receive a series of pertussis vaccinations until they reach the age of 4 and then a booster between the ages of 11 and 13. Because of the outbreak, the minimum age for the booster was dropped to 10, and 35 students at Hustonville, along with about 200 school district employees, took the shot when it was offered last week, Stone said.
Whooping cough is not easy to diagnose in its early stages because its symptoms mirror the common cold and other seasonal illnesses — a slight cough, sniffles and runny nose, and maybe a slight fever. As it progresses, however, the coughing becomes more persistent, violent and, at times, uncontrollable.
“It may or may not be accompanied by a ‘whoop’ sound,” Stone said.
School nurse Beverly Wolfe said the first case at Hustonville came to her attention last month when a girl who had just eaten lunch came to her office coughing so violently that she threw up. The girl was sent home and then taken to a doctor. When tests came back four days later, it was determined she had whooping cough.
Treatment for the disease consists of a five-day regimen of antibiotics. Students and some teachers have been sent home until they complete the treatment, Hafley said.
Hustonville Elementary, with about 450 students including preschool, prides itself on its attendance and regularly wins the banner for best attendance in the school district. Normal attendance runs close to 96 percent but had dropped down to 93 percent on Thursday, most likely due to whooping cough absences.
“Somebody else will get our attendance banner this month,” Hafley said. “I don’t know why it’s targeting us. I have no clue. We feel like we’re doing everything we can do.”
