LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky health leaders are seeing an unusually high uptick in whooping cough.
The Kentucky Department for Public Health is reporting an increase of pertussis. Immunity for vaccination or natural infections wanes over time so people are fully vaccinated can still get whooping cough.
Doctors said the vaccine lessens the severity and will likely keep someone out of the hospital.
Most cases have occurred in school-aged children but some have been identified in infants and adults.
"It's not unusual to actually see whooping cough however the numbers that are being seen that is definitely unusual, " Dr. Mark Burns, with UofL Health Infectious Diseases, said. "It's usually not that prevalent as it is right now."
Doctors typically treat whooping cough with antibiotics.
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