With RSV, coronavirus, and the flu, doctors at St. Luke’s University Health Network in Monroe County have been busy nursing people back to health. But they are not the only illnesses the hospital system is seeing.
An outbreak of whooping cough is spreading in the Stroudsburg area.
“It is a respiratory infection, so it is spread when a person coughs or sneezes; they generate secretions. They generate respiratory droplets that go into the air, and then a susceptible person who is within that airspace can become infected,” said Dr. Jennifer Janco, the chair of pediatrics for St. Luke’s University Health.
Dr. Janco says whooping cough is not a new infection and primarily impacts kids.
“What started as two cases in early December has quickly grown, which is not unexpected because everybody got together as we do this time of year and shared many things—well wishes, happy New Year, as well as coughs, sneezes, and germs, so we are now seeing it largely in the school population,” said Dr. Janco.
There is a vaccine, but you have to be 2 months old to receive it.
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