Whooping cough kills at least four and threatens 400 in Helmand

Health Officials in the Afghan capital Kabul have confirmed that at least four children have died from whooping cough in Garmrimsir, a border district in the southern province of Helmand over the past few days. Four hundred children are confirmed infected with the disease in the region. “We are seriously concerned, four children have died and over 400 children under five have been clinically confirmed with whooping cough in Helmand province,” Feroozudin Ferooz, Afghan deputy health minister, told IRIN on Thursday. Pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes coughing and gagging with little or no fever. An infected person has coughing fits that may end in vomiting, sometimes causing a “whoop” sound when the person breathes in. It is transmitted by contact with discharge from the nose and throat of infected individuals. While pertussis can affect people of any age, it's most dangerous to infants less than 1 year old who may develop pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage and sometimes leads to death. Young children who have not been immunised have the most severe symptoms. Serious complications are less likely in older children and adults, health experts say. “We are concerned, right now because of the mounting number of cases,” Yvette Bivigou a UN World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman told IRIN. She said WHO was supporting the ministry of health and NGOs working in the affected villages to collect surveillance data and provide treatment. “We are going to immunise all children under five [in the affected areas] and will investigate to see what are the causes and what preventative measures we can implement to improve the situation there,” Vivigou said. WHO said the challenge was to obtain sufficient amount of vaccine. “If we have enough vaccine to immunise children we have the chance to beat this diseases,” the WHO spokeswoman maintained. Helmand is second only to the northern province of Badakhshan in whooping cough prevalence, where over 1,500 cases were reported over the past 12 months.