Whooping Cough in Europe: Why Pertussis Cases Are Rising and What You Need to Know
Whooping Cough Is Surging Across Europe: Why a Preventable Disease Is Causing New Concern For years, whooping cough was often viewed as a childhood disease that modern vaccination programmes had largely brought under control. But Europe has recently seen a major resurgence of pertussis , the bacterial infection commonly known as whooping cough. The disease is not new, and vaccines against it have existed for decades. Yet the scale of recent transmission has surprised health authorities. In 2024 alone, 29 European Union and European Economic Area countries reported 209,674 cases of pertussis , according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The notification rate was more than eight times higher than in 2023. The situation is particularly concerning because pertussis can be far more dangerous for very young babies than it appears to be in older children or adults. In some adults, the infection may look like nothing more than a persistent cough. Those ...