Medical experts explain increase in whooping cough cases across Colorado

When it comes to keeping her two children healthy, Sameera Anwar says she's feeling much more at ease than last year.

"And that's primarily because [my son] was born last November, so I was really scared with just his older brother going to daycare, him being born, being little, winter [and] all of those things," said Anwar. "I think there's only so much you can do. So all the healthcare things, take them to their wellness visits, get them their vaccines, and expose them to enough safe bacteria so they can grow and build their immune systems."

It is those same concerns that medical professionals in the Denver metro area say more families should be mindful as cases of whooping cough have tripled in Colorado this year compared to 2023.

"I think as people are getting back to their normal activities and normal travel and normal personal gatherings and so on and so forth, we just have more contact between people, and that's how this disease spreads," said Dr. Bernadette Albanese, Medical Officer with Adams County Public Health Department.

According to the CDC, there have been 467 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, so far this year in Colorado. Last year, there were just 147.

The number of cases varies across each community in the Denver metro area. For example, in Adams County, there were 17 cases in all of 2023 compared to 31 cases so far this year.

Albanese says reasons behind this could be partly because people are no longer practicing wearing masks while sick, or families may be opting out of vaccinating their children.

"Say you start out with 10,000 kids who should have been vaccinated, and it drifts down by two or 3%. That's 700 children that are then susceptible to getting pertussis or other vaccine diseases," she said.

"When vaccination rates dip below a critical amount, then the likelihood of something like this happening increases," said Dr. Tod Olin, a Pediatric Pulmonologist at National Jewish Health.

Olin tells CBS Colorado it is possible cases can continue to climb as families gather this winter indoors.

"For the most part, it is those families that have infants," said Olin. "If you have other kids in the family that haven't been vaccinated, this is the time to do that."