MADISON (WKOW) - It's an illness so severe and persistent that it's been dubbed the "100 day cough." It's called pertussis, also known as whooping cough.
"The cough can last and go on for weeks or months," said Nurse Epidemiologist Ellen Smith with Saint Mary's Hospital.
And cases of pertussis have been on the rise in Wisconsin. Health officials report 12 cases in Milwaukee this November, seven in Dane County - with three of them in infants under one years old. That's what officials find so disturbing.
"For those who are very young, they can get a devastating respiratory illness," said Smith. "They can be hospitalized."
For babies under two months old, one in a 100 with the illness can die.
"So that's why it's so important that everybody that's around a newborn infant should be immunized," said Smith.
Smith says daycare workers, health care providers, grandparents should all get the DTaP vaccine at least once in their lifetime. Infants get a series of shots once they are older than two months.
Symptoms of whooping cough include runny nose, sneezing, low grade fever and then a cough that gets worse after a couple weeks.
"Once you start to cough, it's tough to stop coughing," said Smith. "You can cough until there is no more air left in your lungs and that's what causes that whooping sound."
The 100 day cough is nothing that a parent wants to see their child go through, even for a day.
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MILWAUKEE (WKOW) -- School districts and health officials are seeing an increased number of whooping cough cases in southeast Wisconsin.
Milwaukee health officials say the city is seeing more cases in the past one to two weeks with 12 confirmed cases in November. He says that's double the number of cases usually reported in November.
In Ozaukee County, officials say they are getting widespread reports of pertussis in schools. The Mequon-Thiensville district reported at least four cases, none in public schools.
